Thiruvananthapuram: A total of 194 contestants in 20 Lok Sabha seats are vying for voters' support as Kerala goes to the polls on Friday, after over a month-long fierce campaign by the CPI(M)-led ruling LDF, Congress-headed UDF, and the BJP-led NDA. The Election Commission said there are over 2.75 crore voters in Kerala where polling will commence at 7 am on Friday.


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Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul said 63,100 bottles of ink are used to prevent fraudulent voting and ensure flawless and transparent elections. This time there are 2,77,49,159 voters in the state out of which more than five lakh are first-time voters.


Kottayam constituency boasts the highest number of candidates at 14, while Alathur has the fewest at five. Other notable figures are - 13 candidates in Kozhikode and 12 each in Kollam and Kannur. Of the total 194 candidates, 169 are men and 25 are women. The Vadakara constituency stands out with the highest number of female candidates, at four.


The Election Commission said steps have been taken to ensure safe and peaceful polling by deploying 66,303 security personnel. Kerala Police and Central forces are providing tight security for the polling in a total of 25,231 booths arranged at 13,272 places.


Police deployment has been made throughout the state as per the instructions of the Central Election Commission. When the polling for 20 constituencies in the state begins at 7 am on Friday, more than five lakh first-time voters will go to the polling booth.


As the curtains fell on Wednesday evening, marking the conclusion of the over-month-long, high-octane public campaigning for the April 26 polls, Kerala on Thursday witnessed a silent campaign before the state votes.


Two union ministers, a state minister, three actors and a few MLAs are among the total candidates who try their political luck this time. BJP-led NDA is fielding the most number of women candidates - five. Unlike the previous general elections, Kerala has seen a highly active and aggressive campaign.


Diverse issues ranging from the implementation of the CAA, the alleged existence of 'love jihad', controversies surrounding 'The Kerala Story' movie, the Manipur violence, Rahul Gandhi's candidature in Wayanad, as well as alleged appeasement of minorities by various political parties, dominated the high-decibel public campaigns.


In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the UDF won 19 of the 20 seats, while the LDF had to settle for just a single seat.


Key Candidates And Constituencies To Look Out For


Of the 20 constituencies in Kerala going to polls on Friday, two seats - Alathur and Mavelikara- are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.


1. 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 alliance but are rivals in Kerala. Congress has been winning in Wayanad since the 2009 general elections. BJP, which is yet to open its account in the state, has fielded its state president K Surendran in the constituency.


2. 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.


3. Kollam: Sitting MP NK Premachandran (RSP) is pitted against two actor-turned-politicians - Mukesh, an MLA of CPI-M, and G Krishnakumar (BJP).


4. Thrissur: K Muraleedharan of Congress is pitted against VS Sunil Kumar of CPI and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi of BJP


5. Attingal: Sitting MP Adoor Prakash of Congress is contesting against V Joy of CPM and V Muraleedharan of BJP.


6. Pathanamthitta: Congress' Anto Antony is competing against Thomas Issac from the CPI(M) and Anil K Antony of the BJP.


7. Kasaragod: BJP candidate ML Ashwini is pitted against Congress' Rajmohan Unnithan, who is the sitting MP in the constituency, and CPI (M)'s MV Balakrishnan.


8. Kannur: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran is contesting against CPI(M)'s MV Jayarajan and NDA candidate C Raghunath, who had joined the BJP from Congress.


9. Vadakara: Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who is a UDF candidate, is contesting against LDF candidate KK Shailaja of the CPI(M) and Praphul Krishnan (BJP).


10. Kozhikode: Congress' MK Raghavan, the UDF candidate, is running against CPI(M)'s Elamaram Kareemm, the LDF candidate, and BJP's MT Ramesh.


11. Malappuram: ET Mohammed Basheer of the IUML is the UDF candidate against CPI(M)'s VA Vaseef, the LDF candidate, and Abdul Salam from Bharatiya Janata Party.


12. Ponnani: Nivedita Subramanian of BJP is facing Abdussamad Samadani of IUML and KS Hamza of the CPI (M).


13. Palakkad: C Krishnakumar from Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting against A Vijayaraghavan of Communist Party Of India (Marxist), and sitting MP VK Sreekandan from Congress


14. Alathur: TN Sarasu of the BJP is contesting Ramya Haridas of Congress and K Radhakrishnan of CPI(M)


15. Chalakudy: Benny Behanan of Congress is the UDF candidate and is contesting against CPI(M)'s C Raveendranath and KA Unnikrishnan from Bharath Dharma Jana Sena


16. Ernakulam: Hibi Eden of UDF is facing CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front KJ Shine and KS Radhakrishnan of the BJP.


17. Idukki: UDF's Dean Kuriakose of the Congress is up against Sangeetha Viswanath from Bharath Dharma Jana Sena and Joice George from the Communist Party Of India (Marxist)


18. Kottayam: Thushar Vellappalli from Bharath Dharma Jana Sena is contesting against K Francis George of Kerala Congress and Thomas Chazhikadan of Kerala Congress (M).


19. Alappuzha: KC Venugopal from Congress, Shobha Surendran from Bharatiya Janata Party and AM Ariff from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are in the fray. Ariff is the sitting MP from the seat.


20. Mavelikkara: UDF's Kodikkunnil Suresh is pitted against CPI(M)'s Arun Kumar CA and and Baiju Kalasala of BDJS.