Rahul Gandhi’s presence in fray takes voter turnout to record high in Wayanad

Voters queued up even before the polling started in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday, displaying an enthusiasm that resulted in an impressive voter turnout of 80% in an otherwise sleepy seat that turned high-profile overnight when Congress president Rahul Gandhi entered the fray.
“We have had a record turnout in Wayanad this time. In 2014, it was 71.95%,” said A R Ajayakumar, district election officer in Wayanad. “The month-long voter awareness campaign coupled with the presence of a VVIP candidate in the fray may have contributed to the large attendance at polling stations.”

The election authorities had set up a polling booth deep inside the forests in Sultan Bathery taluk just for 58 tribal voters there. “We are happy all of them came and voted,” Ajayakumar said.

The voter turnout in Wayanad constituency, spread over three districts of Kerala, surpassed state-wide average of 75.35% across its 20 constituencies.

The hilly Wayanad district bordering Karnataka, and dotted with tea and coffee plantations, received rains for about 45 minutes in the afternoon, disrupting polling. But it hardly dampened voter spirit.

In recent days, Wayanad has been receiving good showers in the evening, and that could be one reason why people started their day early, said CH Sajithkumar, an hotelier in Sultan Bathery town. "It is not very hot here because of rains last night,” he said, before stepping out to vote.

In the first two hours after the polling began, Wayanad had recorded a turnout of 12%. By 11 am, the number doubled.

“I stood in the queue for more than an hour. I have never experienced something like this before,” said Neravath Jayan, an agriculturist at Noolpuzha, which is the last gram panchayat bordering the Muthanga-Bandipur Tiger Reserve spread across Kerala and Karnataka.

Rahul Gandhi, who is also contesting from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, opted Wayanad as his second seat. He is locked in a straight contest with CPI candidate PP Suneer. Gandhi led such a strategic and tactful campaign that he never criticised the CPI, his closest rival, but singled out BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his attacks.

When the Congress president took out his first roadshow in Kalpetta town along with sister Priyanka Vadra after filing his nomination papers on April 4, it shook up the sleepy region, attracting tens of thousands of curious onlookers.

The Wayanad constituency has about 13.57 lakh plus eligible voters. It consists of three assembly segments of Sultan Bathery, Kalpetta and Mananthavadi in Wayanad district, Nilambur, Wandoor and Ernad in Malappuram district, and Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district.

At a booth in St Antony's school in Nenmeni panchayat in Sultan Bathery, the polling was suspended briefly after the electronic voting machine (EVM) developed a snag after about 60 votes were cast. The voting resumed later after the problem was fixed.

In Ernad assembly segment in the neighbouring Malappuram district, Dhanya Sandeep, a health department employee, finished voting in 10 minutes at a booth in Munduparamba village. "The election authorities had organised the queue system well. We had separate queues for men and women, and so my pregnant sister and I could vote quickly," she said.

Kerala has total electorate of 2.61 crore voters consisting of 1.26 crore male and 1.34 crore female voters. There are 227 candidates including 25 women in the fray across 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

It was at the bypolls in Parur assembly constituency in Kerala that the election authorities first used the EVMs in May, 1982.