Kannur, April 9
State Congress president and Peravoor candidate Sunny Joseph on Thursday cast his vote at a polling booth in Kannur as Keralam Assembly Elections 2026 got underway.
Speaking to ANI, Sunny Joseph appealed to the people to exercise their franchise rightly to elect a government led by the UDF to negate the anti-policy of the present government.
"UDF will win the majority of seats. UDF will win more than 100 seats. The local body results will be repeated... We are hopeful... My appeal to the people is to exercise their franchise rightly to elect a government led by the UDF to negate the anti-policy of the present government... The Chief Minister's name will be decided in consultation with the high command," said Joseph.
Congress MP Hibi Eden also cast his vote at a polling station at SNDP Nursery School in Kochi.
Speaking to ANI, Eden expressed confidence in a United Democratic Front (UDF) victory, saying the people of Keralam were eager to vote out the Left government.
"We expect that UDF is going to come back to power with a huge majority. UDF is going to have a landslide victory. The people are waiting for a chance to vote against the Left government. The corrupt Pinarayi government is going to be removed with this election," Eden said.
He further said people had been fed up with the ruling dispensation for the last 10 years and predicted the BJP would fail to win a single seat.
"People were, for the last 10 years, fed up with the government... We don't expect the BJP to open a single seat in the state of Kerala," the Congress MP added.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has set up mobile deposit bags at polling booths to facilitate voters.
Polling began for the high-stakes electoral battle Keralam on Thursday at 7 am with the Election Commission making arrangements for free, fair and smooth polling. Voters queued outside polling stations to cast their votes in a single-phase assembly election.
Voting will be held for 140 seats in Keralam in this phase of the election, with the counting of votes scheduled to take place on May 4.
In Keralam, over 2.6 crore electors will decide the fate of 883 candidates across 140 constituencies. Of the 2,69,53,644 registered voters across the state, there are 1,38,27,319 women voters, and the number of male voters stands at 1,31,26,048.
The election is seen as a contest between the ruling LDF and opposition UDF, with the BJP-led NDA, which has been gaining vote share, also hopeful of its prospects in the southern state.
- ANI
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