Only 2.61 per cent polling in island off Kochi

Amid high voter participation in the civic polls in Kerala, a polling booth in an island off the city dominated by Naval officers and their families today saw a very low turnout.
Officials said only 2.61 per cent voters cast their ballots in the third booth in Willingdon Island -- the largest artificial man-made island in the country, which is part of Kochi City Corporation.
The overall voting percentage in the city was pegged at 65 per cent.
The state went for civic polls in two phases -- the first on November two and the final today. It had registered 75 per cent voter turn out in the first phase.

Only 40 -- 31 men and nine women -- out of a total of 1,532 voters exercised their franchise in the corporation polls in the Willingdon Island -- home for the Kochi Naval Base (the Southern Naval Command) of the Indian Navy.
"Out of 1,532 voters, 1,197 are men and 335 are women. Majority of them are Naval officers. This is perhaps the lowest voter turn out for the civic polls in the state," Ernakulam District Information Office said in a release here.

Asked about this, a Navy spokesman said names of majority of Naval officers currently based in Kochi did not figure in the voter list.

"Majority of the officials having their names included in the voter list here have been transferred much earlier. Our voter list has not been updated for long," the official told PTI.
He also said majority of the officials currently based in Kochi had their voting rights in the areas where their families were located.