With the last-minute efforts to win over voters too coming to an end in six districts of South Kerala, the ball is now in the voters' court as the first phase of polling begins tomorrow.Meanwhile, there are reports of a central government security alert based on threats issued by Hizbul Mujahideen, the Pak-based outfit in the poll fever-struck state. The central intelligence agencies have conveyed to the poll panel and the state administration that security arrangements need to be strictly in place so as to keep Hizbul men at bay. The state police is in the process of deploying as many as 19 companies of the Reserve Police Force from different states during the 10-day poll exercise. Besides, the state home department is deploying around 20,000-plus police personnel in addition to as many as 13 special police officers to check any ultra activity. Mobile booth patrol and election strike force are also being deployed.The state police is going all out to make polling peaceful by keeping on alert more teams of its personnel. The special election strike forces would be led by officers of the ranks of DIGs, IGs, ADGP and DGP. As the first phase gets underway on Saturday, there are as many as 409 candidates in the fray for a total of 59 constituencies in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Idukki.The campaign trail had drawn a clear picture of the pressure that the UDF and LDF candidates were undergoing. However, the poll surveys have swung in favour of the LDF and, predictably, the UDF has trashed all speculations.According to Election Commission figures, voting on Saturday will take place in 8,292 booths using 9,121 electronic voting machines. An estimated 8.4 million voters, including 4.3 million women, are eligible to cast their votes in the six districts.
