Second phase Kerala local body polls see turnout of over 60 pc till 3 pm
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The second phase of polling in the crucial local body elections in seven districts of Kerala on Thursday witnessed a turnout of over 60 per cent after eight hours of polling.
Voters began casting ballots from 7 am at the 18,274 polling stations in the districts of Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod.
People of all ages and professions, including political leaders, queued up at polling stations since early morning.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan turned up to vote along with his family in Kannur.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote, he expressed confidence about a historic win for the LDF and said that the Sabarimala gold loss issue would not affect the prospects of the Left front.
He claimed that the government took stringent action in the matter and if it were any other party in power, such steps would not have been taken.
Regarding the reported claims by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Sunny Joseph of a conspiracy behind the second complaint of sexual assault against MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, the CM hinted at the presence of a "criminal gang of sexual perverts" in the grand old party.
Vijayan said that such persons intimidated their victims to prevent them from coming forward.
Leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key ally of the Congress, like Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, P K Kunhalikutty and M K Muneer were confident of a huge victory for the UDF in the local body polls.
The Congress also expressed confidence of a historic win and its leaders, Joseph, Ramesh Chennithala and K Sudhakaran, said that the Sabarimala gold issue would affect the LDF prospects in the polls as they were protecting those involved in the scam.
The local body polls are viewed by many as a key indicator ahead of next year's state assembly elections.
In the second phase, over 1.53 crore voters will elect representatives to 12,931 wards across 604 local bodies, including grama panchayats, block panchayats, district panchayats, municipalities and corporations.
A total of 38,994 candidates are in the fray.
The first phase of polling in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam districts of the state concluded on December 9 with a turnout of around 70 per cent.
The results of both phases of polling will be announced on December 13.
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Election Commission has become a puppet of govt: Cong MP Ajay Maken
New Delhi (PTI): Congress Rajya Sabha member Ajay Maken on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission has "become a puppet of the government" and questioned how democracy can survive in the absence of a level playing field, transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
Initiating a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, Maken said that while India proudly claims to be the mother of democracy, the three fundamental conditions for a fair election -- level playing field, transparency, and credibility -- have been systematically undermined.
Accusing the Election Commission (EC) of refusing to provide machine-readable electoral rolls, hiding IP addresses and destroying evidence within 45 days, Maken said, "Today, the Election Commission has become a puppet of the government".
The EC's job is to win 'trust', but today its job has become to create 'suspicion', he added, citing examples of how voter turnout figures increased in Haryana assembly elections on the day of result announcement from the figures put out two days earlier.
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He said the commission remained silent when asked about the origin of extra votes and assembly and booth-wise data.
Also, he accused the EC of not providing to the CID -- which was investigating the matter of fake application forms in the Aland assembly constituency of Karnataka -- the IP address and port number of the computers from which the forms were filed.
"If the umpire wears the jersey of a team, what will the other team do? If the umpire itself fixes the match, what will the players do?" he asked.
Commenting on the absence of a level-playing field in the electoral process, Maken pointed out the growing disparity in the finances between the BJP and Congress from 2004 to 2024.
He accused the government of using various tactics to deprive the opposition parties of funds.
In the last 20 years, since 2004, the BJP's bank balance has increased from Rs 87.96 crore to Rs 10,107.2 crore, while that of Congress increased from Rs 38.48 crore to Rs 133.97 crore, Maken pointed out.
He accused the government of unleashing the ED and IT departments on Congress to deprive it of funds just ahead of elections, while also using the agencies to prevent businessmen and big industrialists from donating to the party.
"I have spoken to businessmen, big industrialists. They said that during the time of the Congress government, they used to contribute (to political parties) in a 60:40 ratio. At present, let alone 90:10, even at a 95:5 ratio, we (businesses) can't give it to you because the moment we do it, ED and IT will come after us, and we are not allowed to do anything," Maken claimed.
How can democracy survive in this situation? he wondered.
When the ruling party has 75 times more money than the Opposition, how can there possibly be a 'level playing field', Makan said, adding that all the money that went to the BJP was "all thanks to electoral bonds".
Responding to the allegations, BJP member Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP) accused the Congress of creating a ruckus instead of availing the avenues available to them to seek redressal of their grievances.
Taking the example of a cricket match, he said, when a team feels that a batsman was out, but the umpire has not declared so, they can seek a review. However, instead of going to the umpire for review, Congress has been holding press conferences, in anticipation that the third umpire would give the decision on his own.
Trivedi wanted to know why the Congress has not asked for CCTV footage of the Bihar elections even after 45 days of polling.
On 'vote chori' allegations in Bihar, he said Congress' vote share has been reducing over the years, and what was left there to be stolen.
Hitting back at the allegation of lack of transparency, Trivedi said in the election for Congress president, in which Mallikarjun Kharge was elected, 22 Congress leaders sought voter lists, but they were not provided as per media reports.
Those who do not share the voter list for their own party election are lecturing others on transparency, he noted.
