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Film actor and producer Tovino Thomas on Friday cast his vote at a polling booth in Irinjalakuda, Thrissur as all 20 parliamentary seats in Kerala went in to vote in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections.
The 'Minnal Murali' actor is also the state brand ambassador for the Election Commission's SWEEP (Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation) program. He cast his vote at the Government Girls Higher Secondary school in Irinjalakkuda. Kerala recorded a voter turnout of 11.98 per cent till 9 am, according to data shared by the Election Commission (EC). According to the poll body, Alappuzha is leading the voter turnout charts in the state with 13.63 per cent while Thiruvananthapuram recorded a voter turnout of 10.37 per cent, and Wayanad, where Congress leader and sitting MP Rahul Gandhi is in the fray, recorded 12.86 per cent. Voter turnout in other constituencies recorded were -Alathur (11.91 per cent), Attingal (11.83 per cent), Chalakudy (13.13 per cent), Ernakulam (11.44 per cent), Idukki (11.85 per cent), Kannur (12.81 per cent), Kasargod (12.10 per cent), Kollam (10.45 per cent). Kottayam (12.79 per cent), Kozhikode (12.22 per cent), Malappuram (11.17 per cent), Mavelikara (12.94 per cent), Palakkad (13.57 per cent), Pathanamthitta (11.37 per cent), Ponnani (10.47 per cent), Thrissur (12.71 per cent), Vadakara (10.14 per cent). Kerala will decide the fate of 194 candidates. Of the 20 constituencies in Kerala going to polls, two seats -Alathur and Mavelikara- are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. The key candidates in Kerala are, Wayanad: Congress leader and sitting MP Rahul Gandhi is recontesting against Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Both of them are part of the national INDIA bloc but are rivals in the state. Congress has been winning in Wayanad since 2009 general elections. BJP, which is yet to open its account in the state, has fielded its state president K Surendran in the constituency,Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor won this seat in the 2009, 2014 and 2019 general elections. The former UN diplomat is contesting against BJP leader and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and CPI's Pannyan Raveendran. In Thrissur, K Muraleedharan of Congress is contesing against VS Sunil Kumar of CPI and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi of BJP. In Attingal, sitting MP Adoor Prakash of Congress is contesting against V Joy of CPM and V Muraleedharan of BJP. Voting began at 7 am today for the second phase of polls in which 88 Lok Sabha constituencies across 13 States and Union Territory Apart from 20 constituencies in Kerala, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, six in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Tripura, Manipur, and Jammu & Kashmir are voting today. The Lok Sabha election is being held in seven phases till June 1 and votes will be counted on June 4. The first phase of the world's largest electoral exercise, was held on April 19 in 102 constituencies across 21 states and UTs. According to the Election Commission, the voter turnout registered was over 62 per cent. The third phase election will be held on May 7. (ANI)
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