A total of 1,203 contestants are in the race for 140 Kerala assembly seats, for which elections will be held on May 16, the Election Commission (EC) said yesterday. Of these, 109 are women.
According to the EC, the state has 2,61,06,422 registered voters.
The maximum 17 candidates are in Poonjar segment, while Payyannur, Nilambur, Kongad and Tarur have four each.
No political party is contesting all the seats, though the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded the maximum number of 98 candidates, followed by the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 87 and 85 candidates respectively.
Other parties in the fray are Bahujan Samaj Party (74 candidates), the Communist Party of India (25), the Indian Union Muslim League (23), Kerala Congress-Mani (15), Nationalist Congress Party (4) and Janata Dal-Secular and Revolutionary Socialist Party (5 each).
Besides, there are 782 independents and others.
The largest assembly constituency electorate-wise is Aranmula with 2,26,324 voters, and Kozhikode South with 1,48,848 voters is the smallest. Area-wise, Konni is the largest constituency.
Meanwhile, apprehending poll-related violence in Kannur, the Congress has taken out a group insurance policy for its 570 booth agents, covering medical treatment and damage to property up to Rs100,000 each.
The party paid a premium of Rs100,000 and insured its 570 booth agents with the Oriental Insurance Company, Kannur District Congress Committee President K Surendran said.
“This is to show to the world that how the CPM acts in certain places during elections and after the elections. These agents will now be posted in sensitive and most sensitive polling booths in this district,” said Surendran.
The EC this time has identified more than 1,200 sensitive booths in Kerala, most of which are in and around the district of Kannur.
The commission will employ micro-observers in these booths, put up web cameras and in places where Internet connectivity is not there would be static cameras.