Kerala records lowest turnout for Assembly polls in a decade

(This story was published before the Kerala EC revised the figures of voter-turnout. The final tally stands at 77.35%.)

The Election Commission office on Monday put Kerala’s voter turnout at 71.7 per cent. However, Unnikrishnan R, Joint Chief Electoral Officer (Public Information Officer) said that the figure is a tentative one and that the final figures would be updated only by Tuesday morning.

As of 6pm, Kannur recorded the highest voter turnout at 78.49 per cent. Pathanamthitta, on the other hand, recorded the lowest voter turnout with 61.95 per cent.

Here are five charts that show how the districts turned out in 2016, as compared to 2011. 

Rains in several parts of the state had slowed down polling in the morning. However, polling levels picked up towards the end of the day:

7.45am: 3 per cent
8.00am: 4.2 per cent
9.00am: 7.78-9.25 per cent
10.10am: 15-21 per cent
11.05am: 24 per cent
12.12pm: 35 per cent
1.20pm: 43.88 per cent
2.10pm: 46.5 per cent
3.15pm: 57.54 per cent
5.00pm: 70.35 per cent
6.00pm: 71.7 per cent (Tentative)

Going by the percentage given by the Election Commission at 6pm, the voter turnout for 2016 has come down from that of 2011 state Assembly elections. In 2011, the state witnessed a voter turnout of 75.12 per cent.

In the 2006 state assembly elections, Kerala recorded a voter turnout of 72.27 per cent.