The plantation areas of Idukki with a majority population of Tamil origin showed a considerable fall in voter turnout in the local body elections held on Tuesday.
Officials attribute this to two factors - the general reluctance due to COVID-19 and a large number of voters returning to their native place.
The plantation areas, including tea and cardamom, are spread over areas close to Tamil Nadu in Peerumade, Udumbanchola, and Devikulam taluks.
In Peerumade taluk, where a considerable number of tea estates had shut down, voters who had moved to their native places did not turn up for voting. Udumbanchola has a large concentration of cardamom estates and in Devikulam, the majority of voters work in major tea estates.
Devikulam Subcollector S. Prem Krishnan on Wednesday said the COVID-19 situation and poor turnout of voters who had moved to Tamil Nadu might be a reason for the fall in voting percentage in the plantation areas.
He said polling officials from the Edamalakkudy tribal grama panchayat reached the main station at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The voting turnout there also showed a decline, he added.
Links with Tamil Nadu
The tribespeople of Anchunadu and Edamalakkudy (Devikulam block) keep a close link to Tamil Nadu for transaction of farm produce and meeting household needs. Those who retire from the estates often return to their native places and spend their time between the two States.
The district recorded voter a turnout of 74.66%, as per the latest data on Wednesday.
The block-wise voting figures in the plantation areas are: Devikulam 70.71%, Azhutha 70.38%, and Nedumkandam 77.11%. Nedumkandam block has a comparatively low population of Tamil voters. In the last elections, the tally in Devikulam was 76.36%, Azhutha 74.74%, and Nedumkandam 79.16%.
In the plantation areas, Tamil Nadu political party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had fielded a number of candidates.
