It's the greatest circus of democracy in the world and in Kerala, a snake decided to be part of it. In the Kannur constituency, a snake was found at a polling booth inside the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). The booth is located at Mayyil Kandakkai in the Kannur constituency.
The snake, however, was considerate enough to be found during the mock polling and did not hinder the actual polling once it began.
The reptile was found between 6 and 7 am at the Kandagai LP School in Mayyil. The snake could be a Montane Trinket or a rat snake, both of which are non-venomous. It was removed soon after it was discovered. Polling, which began at 7 am, was not affected.
This was one among the problems around polling that cropped up in the state, especially with regard to the malfunctioning of EVMs
The malfunctioning was pointed out by none other than Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who said that election officials appear to have failed to ensure that the EVMs worked properly.
"I myself had to wait for a while and I was told that the EVMs are not working. I am also told that this is the case in other places also," Vijayan told the media in Kannur after he voted.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, who voted in Alappuzha, also complained about faulty EVMs.
There were reports that in a voting booth in Kovalam, the vote was cast for the lotus when the button was pressed for the Congress. This allegation was dismissed by Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena as well as Thiruvananthapuram District Collector K Vasuki.
“There is false news spreading that at Booth 151 in Kovalam, every vote is being cast for the lotus. Every media is carrying similar (reports) to the one that happened in AP. We double checked and no such thing is happening,” Teeka Ram Meena, the CEO, said.
The candidates competing for the seat are incumbent MP PK Sreemathy from the LDF, K Surendran from the UDF and CK Padmanabhan from the NDA. In Kerala, 227 candidates are contesting in the 20 constituencies.