Thiruvananthapuram, Wednesday, April 13, 2011: Several political leaders of both ruling and opposition have cast their votes for deciding the electoral fortune of 971 candidates for 140 Assembly constituencies in the state. Brisk polling has been reported in the 14 districts and 65 percent voting has been reported in the initial hours.

Prominent among those who exercised their franchise in the early hours include CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran, Kerala Congress supremo KM Mani, Elamaram Kareem, G Sudhakaran , NK Premachandran (ministers), KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, Panakkad Hyderali Thangal, PK Kunhalikutty, KV Thomas, union minister and Mar Andewz Thazath, AK Antony, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, MK Muneer, O Rajagopal, Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy, S Sarma, VS Achuthanandan, S Ramachandran Pillai, Vayalar Ravi etc.

The total number of voters is 2, 31, 47, 871 who will cast their votes in 20,785 polling stations. The polling will be held from 7 am – 5 pm and the counting of votes will be held on May 13 as per the election schedule.

State Election commission has identified 3,703 booths in Kerala as sensitive. Kannur district alone has 1257 sensitive booths.
The electronic voting machines will be engaged in all the polling stations. Voter’s ID card is a must to cast vote and there will be a helpdesk of the Election Commission to help the voters who have lost their ID cards. Around 40 companies of Central armed forces, apart from the Kerala police, are in place to ensure a smooth conduct of voting.

Kasargod- 76.6%
Kannur-80.4%
Wayanad -73.5%
Kozhikode- 80.2%
Malappuram- 73.6%
Palakkad-75.3%
Thrissur- 74.6%
Ernakulam- 77.4%
Idukki- 71.2%
Kottayam -73.4%
Alappuzha- 77.7%
Pathanamthitta- 68.7%
Kollam- 72.6%
Thiruvananthapuram- 68.5%