Poll campaign climax in Kerala marred with violence as LDF, UDF cadre clash; police use lathicharge, tear gas
Updated Apr 21, 2019 | 22:43 IST | Times Now Bureau
The last leg of the poll campaigning in Kerala was marred with violence as LDF and UDF workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram, Kasargod, Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Vadakara.
LDF, UDF workers clash in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo Credit: Times Now
Thiruvananthapuram: The last day of the campaigning for the April 23 Lok Sabha elections in Kerala ended in violence as cardre of Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) factions and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) clashed across the state.
The climax of election campaign witnessed violence between political rivals is some parts of the state prompting police to resort to use lathicharge and tear gas to disperse warring crowds.
The CPI(M)-led LDF, Congress-led UDF and the BJP-led NDA took out rallies across the state on the last day to win friends and influence voters.
However, the campaigning which ended on 6 pm Sunday was marred by controversies as cadre of all the three factions were reported to be involved in various violent incidents.
After clashes between LDF and UDF workers in Vadakara, a curfew was declared in the district on the day of voting (April 23).
In Kollam and Vadakara, CPM workers attacked Congress supporters in the final leg of the campaign. The police and central armed forces had posted a large number of personnel to keep the situation under control
In Kasargod, the police had to deploy tear gas to disperse the LDF and UDF cadre pelting stones at each other, said reports.
In Pathanamthitta, the CPM and BJP activists pelted stones against each other.
The LDF supporters reportedly stopped the road show of UDF candidate Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram. Senior Congress leader A K Antony who was campaigning for Tharoor, had to return after the road show was blocked. The police had to lathicharge the crowd to disperse the crowd after violence broke out at the road show.
The elections will be conducted in a single phase on April 23 in Kerala in the third phase of the seven-phase general elections in the country.
Kerala has of 26.15 million voters out of which 13.45 million are female and 12.68 million are males and 174 transgenders, as per the EC data.
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Poll campaign climax in Kerala marred with violence as LDF, UDF cadre clash; police use lathicharge, tear gas Description: The last leg of the poll campaigning in Kerala was marred with violence as LDF and UDF workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram, Kasargod, Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Vadakara. Times Now