Kasargod, Apr 10: The polling for third phase of the Lok Sabha elections got under way in Kasargod constituency on April 10, Thursday. Apart from Kerala, 14 other states including Delhi, UP, and Bihar also held the polling.
The polling commenced at 7 am and continued smoothly and peacefully till 6 pm. The votes will be counted on May 16.
BJP candidate K Surendran exercised his vote at Nellikunje booth, while Congress candidate T Siddique in Kozhikode, while P Karunakar of CPI (M) exercised his franchise at Nileshwar.
The fourteen candidates contesting in election are T Siddique from Congress (UDF), P Karunakaran from CPI (M), K Surendran from BJP, Bashir Aladi from BSP, Abdul Salam N U from SDPI, Abbas Mothalappara from All India Trinamool Congress, Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan from AAP, while Aboobacker Siddiq, K K Ashokan, Nellikadan Kannan, Karunakaran Kalipurayil, Karunakaran Paiangappadam, Manohan K and P K Raman are independent candidate.
Kasargod Loksabha constituency has 12,40,600 voters including one lakh new voters, polling in 66 polling booths in seven Legislative Assembly constituencies of Manjeshwara, Kasargod, Uduma,Kanhangad, Trikkaripura, Kalliasseri of Kannur district and Payyanur.
Electronic voting machines and other necessary items necessary for election were delivered to Government College Padannakad and Nehru Arts and Science College for further distribution on April 9, Wednesday. This time EVM comprises of NOTA to option that gives the voter the right to reject all candidates.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor cast their in the State capital, while Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan and Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi cast their votes in Alappuzha.
Police and paramilitary forces has been deployed in all the booths for smooth polling.
In a tragic incident, an 80-year-old woman voter identified as Ayesha from Kanhangad died at the polling booth due to cardiac arrest.