Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam)

As Keralam prepares for the upcoming Assembly elections in April, home voting for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PwD) commenced on Monday across the state.

Polling teams began the process early in the morning, including in the Poonthura area under the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, where officials initiated home voting at around 9:30 AM.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the facility is available to voters aged 85 years and above, as well as those with 40 per cent benchmark disability, who are eligible to avail the home voting facility through postal ballots. The option is available to those who submitted applications after the poll schedule was announced.

Each mobile polling team includes a polling officer, two assistants, a micro observer, a videographer, and police personnel to ensure transparency, accountability, and security during the voting process.

The home voting process in the state will continue until April 4. A total of over 2.07 lakh voters have opted for the facility, including 1,45,592 senior citizens and 62,220 PwD voters whose applications were approved through Form 12D.

Among districts, Thiruvananthapuram has the highest number of elderly voters (14,672) opting for home voting, followed by Kannur (14,132) and Ernakulam (14,117). In the PwD category, Thiruvananthapuram again tops the list with 6,791 voters, followed by Kozhikode (6,788) and Malappuram (6,746).

The Election Commission has deployed 2,468 teams across the state to ensure the smooth conduct of the home voting process.

The polling for Kerala Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4.

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Keralam has traditionally followed an alternating pattern of governance, switching between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) every five years since 1982. This trend was broken in 2021 when the LDF, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was re-elected for a second consecutive term.

While the LDF and the UDF are frontrunners in the polls, the BJP will attempt to make a mark after its historic win in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation elections.