With the authorities completing all arrangements, polling in 1,530 booths across the five Assembly segments in the district will begin at 7 a.m on Tuesday.
The district has a total electorate of 10.54 lakh. Of this, 14,586 are first-time voters. As many as 2,332 are NRI voters and 3,938 service voters.
A total of 7,420 officers have been deployed on election duty while 1,896 electronic voting machines and 20317 voter verified paper audit trail units too have been distributed from the respective centres.
District Collector Narasimhugari T.L. Reddy supervised the proceedings.
Two booths shifted
Officials said that two polling stations (111 and 112) set up at the Syrian Christian Seminary LP School in Thukalasssery had been shifted to the Syrian Christian Seminary High School.
Meanwhile, the roads that had reverberated with poll rhetoric and slogans went silent on Monday as voters geared up to decide the fate of 39 candidates in the fray. The candidates, however, kept themselves busy on the day as they made some urgent visits and courtesy calls besides knocking on the doors of the voters, delivering leaflets and striking conversations with people they prioritised for micro-targeting.
Of the five Assembly segments, Konni is witnessing an intense three-cornered fight while in the remaining four seats, it is mostly a battle between the United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front. During the electioneering that lasted about three weeks, the district’s poll scape witnessed an unprecedented war of words between the leading coalitions while Sabarimala retained its position as the overarching election issue.
The floods of 2018 and the reconstruction of Pathanamthitta also topped the list of major election issues.
Adding to the intensity of the fight in the district, a battery of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, visited the district.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, Adoor recorded the highest polling percentage of 74.42, followed by Konni with 73.03. Thiruvalla, with a total polling percentage of 69.30, recorded the lowest figures.
