Voters in Kerala's naxal-hit areas to get one hour lesser polling time

The Election Commission has identified 298 polling booths in the state which are situated in the naxal-affected areas across five districts

Polling for the assembly election in Kerala will be held from 7 am to 7 pm on April 6, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Teeka Ram Meena said on Saturday. However, in the naxal-hit areas of the state, voting will begin at 7 am and conclude by 6 pm.

Meena said the Election Commission has identified 298 polling booths in the state which are situated in the naxal-affected areas of Palakkad, Malappuram, Kannur, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.

"Central forces will be deployed at naxal-affected booths, the critical and vulnerable booths in the state. There are 549 critical location booths and 433 vulnerable polling booths in the state. The ECI has sought 150 company central forces for the election. Thirty company forces have are already reached the state," Meena said in a press meet here. There will be 40,771 polling stations in the state.

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The Chief Electoral Officer noted that there are a total of 2.67 crore voters in the state, including 2.99 lakh in the 18-19 age group, who would be participating in the election process. "Of the total number of voters 1.37 crore are women. There are 221 transgenders in the list. Webcasting will be done in 50 per cent of polling booths. The Covid-19 patients will be allowed to vote during the last hour in the polling station," he said.

Malappuram accounts for the maximum number of total voters-- 32,14,943, including 16,7000 women voters. The least number of voters are in Wayanad 67,068. While there are 90,709 NRI voters, as many as 6.21 lakh are over 80 years of age, he added.