Thiruvananthapuram: Despite heightened political fervour and anticipation about the general elections for the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, the process concluded on Friday with a notable decrease in voter turnout, as the figure stands at 70.22 per cent.
This figure, while significant, is quite a drop from the polling percentage of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
At 8 pm, the state recorded 70.22 per cent turnout, which compared to 77.84 per cent in 2019, falls short by over 7 per cent. However, the final figures may vary, as despite the official time for polling ending at 6 pm, huge crowds were seen in several polling booths in various Lok Sabha constituencies including Vatakara, Ponnani, Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki and Kasaragod.
Kerala has around 2.77 crore registered voters, and 194 candidates contested this time from the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
Two union ministers, most of the current MPs, a state minister, three actors and a few MLAs are among the candidates who tried their political luck this time in Kerala.