Kerala poll dates out, parties ready for showdown
March 2nd, 2011 - 1:53 am ICT by IANSThiruvananthapuram, March 1 (IANS) Kerala’s ruling Left Front and opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Tuesday said they were confident of performing well at the assembly elections April 13.
“There has been a general feeling across the board that the present Left government has failed in all aspects and they will be voted out by the people. Five years of Left rule has taken the state back many years and hence people will elect us with a good majority,” UDF convenor P.P. Thankachen said.
Left Front convenor Vaikom Viswan said that the opposition had become a divided house.
“Our track record of honouring our promises to the people will help us to stand in good stead. We have full confidence of the people who are quite capable of looking at all the positives that we have done during our rule,” he said.
Elections for the 140-member assembly will be held in a single phase April 13, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi announced Tuesday in New Delhi.
For the first time, non-resident Keralites who are present in the state and whose names appear in the voting list will be able to cast their votes.
Currently, the Left Front has 89 legislators, compared to the UDF’s 50. One seat is vacant.
The election notification would be out March 19, and the model code of conduct came into effect from Tuesday.
More than 2.5 crore people will be eligible to cast their votes in 20,758 polling booths across the state.
The results will be declared May 13.
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Tags: assembly elections, chief election commissioner, code of conduct, convenor, democratic front, keralites, legislators, march 1, march 19, member assembly, model code, New Delhi, opposition congress, poll dates, polling booths, promises, quraishi, stead, udf, voting list