Unusual ‘voter’: Snake inside VVPAT machine holds up polling in Kerala’s Kannur

Even reptiles seem to have deep interest in the world’s largest elections. A snake inside a VVPAT machine in Kerala’s Kannur held up polling in a booth at Mayyil Kandakkai in the constituency, which is witnessing heavy polling, triggering panic among officials and voters. However, the snake was soon removed and voting resumed. The Kannur constituency, where sitting MP PK Sreemathy (CPI-M-LDF), K Surendrdan (Cong-UDF) and CK Padmanabhan (BJP-NDA) are trying their luck, is witnessing brisk polling since the morning.

Polling in the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha election was underway on 116 seats, including all constituencies in Gujarat and Kerala, with BJP president Amit Shah, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and several Union ministers among prominent candidates in the fray.

Fifteen states and Union Territories, including Gujarat, Kerala, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa and Tripura, were undergoing polls in the third phase on Tuesday.

Even as Kannur witnessed brisk voting, several a very low to moderate voting in the first few hours. Till 9 am, note a single vote was casted in Maharashtra’s Sangli and Satara Lok Sabha seats, while similar turnout was recorded in Gujarat’s Dahod and Banaskantha.

Durg in Chhattisgarh, Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, Cuttuck in Odisha, Vellore in Tamil Nadu and Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli were among the other seats where zero per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first two hours. On Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s second seat Wayanad, estimated polling percentage was recorded at only 0.9 per cent till 9 am.