Senior politicians, LS poll candidates, actors cast votes; urge everyone to exercise their franchise

Prominent persons, including senior politicians and candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha polls as well as popular actors and heads of church, turned up in the first half of Friday to exercise their franchise during the polling in Kerala and urged everyone to vote.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan, BJP state president K Surendran, saffron party candidates Suresh Gopi and Anil Antony as well as Congress' K C Venugopal and Shafi Parambil were seen casting their votes early in the morning.

Besides them, Congress stalwart A K Antony, KPCC president K Sudhakaran, LDF convener E P Jayarajan and CPI(M)'s Thomas Isaac also came in the morning to exercise their democratic right.

Leaders of the CPI(M)-led LDF, Congress-led UDF and the BJP-led NDA claimed that their respective fronts will create history in the state.

Vijayan claimed that Kerala will "gift" a historic win to the LDF, a sentiment which was echoed by other Left leaders who all said that the BJP was never accepted by the people of the southern state and this trend will continue.

Responding to reporters' queries about the BJP's claim of getting double digit seats in Kerala, the CM said the saffron party will not even get one seat.

He said that even the Congress-led UDF will not win any seat as the people were unhappy with them.

The CM alleged that both the BJP and the Congress have an anti-Kerala stand.

Isaac, contesting from Pathanamthitta LS seat, said that LDF will win in all seats and the BJP will come a distant third everywhere.

Jayarajan too was confident of the LDF "creating history" in the state.

"The Left front needs to win for the country to have a future," he added.

Antony, Venugopal, Satheesan and Shashi Tharoor said that there is a pro-Congress and UDF wave in the state and the grand old party was the better alternative.

They all said that there was an anti-incumbency wave against the Centre and the Left government in Kerala and therefore, the Congress will win in all 20 seats.

The Congress leaders also said that for the survival of the country, the "communal and fascist" government at the Centre should be removed from power and a government by the INDIA bloc should come there.

Antony, whose son Anil Antony is contesting from Pathanamthitta LS seat on a BJP ticket, said that the saffron party will be demolished in the elections.

Anil Antony, who was among those who cast their votes early in the morning, claimed there was a pro-Narendra Modi sentiment in the state.

A similar view was expressed by Surendran, contesting from Wayanad LS seat, who said that the people will vote for Modi and his development agenda.

He said people of Kerala are unhappy with the LDF and UDF and those in Wayanad are ready to bid farewell to Rahul Gandhi.

He confidently asserted that after the results are announced on June 4, a lot of people would be leaving their parties to join the BJP.

Actor-cum-politician Suresh Gopi, contesting on a BJP ticket from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, was confident he will win. He said that the people will decide based on the last 10 years' governance of the Modi government.

Candidates and leaders of all political parties encouraged everyone to exercise their franchise as this election will decide the future of the nation.

Besides them, prominent actors, including Sreenivasan, Fahadh Faasil, Tovino Thomas, Anna Rajan, Asif Ali and Renji Panicker, as well as church heads like Major Archbishop of the influential Syro-Malabar Church Raphael Thattil and Cardinal George Alencherry also voted in the morning.

After casting his vote, Thomas said that though very few options are available to the public to choose from in the elections, they should make the most of it and not refrain from exercising their right to vote.

Rajan, who took a break from her busy shooting schedules in Sri Lanka to cast her vote, said voting is everyone's right and people can make changes by exercising this right.

"I cast my vote. In a democratic country, we can make change through our votes," she said, urging everyone to be a part of the exercise.

Ali too urged people not to miss the chance of casting their vote citing reasons like scorching heat and humidity.

"As a citizen, it is our duty to exercise our franchise. It is the only chance to express our support or displeasure to someone. So, don't miss this chance," he told reporters.

Thattil too spoke along similar lines by encouraging everyone to exercise their right to vote.

He also said that the Catholic Church loves the country and wants it to be united.