A great turn out.

Dateline 02 Oct

The third and final phase of Assembly polls in 40 seats of witnessed 68.72% voter turnout, two percentage points more than the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Brisk polling was reported in all separatist bastions in north Kashmir while there was greater enthusiasm in the Jammu region, where the West Pakistani refugees, Valmikis and Gorkhas got to exercise their franchise for the first time in the Assembly polls.

For the first time, the people of Sopore openly came out to vote. "This is the first time we are voting without fear", said retired government teacher Abdul Aziz. The town was in the stranglehold of separatists and militants. 

The PN Panicker Foundation had two significant functions organised on this day. The first was at the 3rd Adivasi collective at Paangaavu in Kuttichal Panchayat which has got all its members practice UPI payments after attaining digital literacy. The Foundation, the RBI and the NABARD had made it possible and its declaration was made in the presence of George Kurien, the MoS in the Modi cabinet. Kerala's minister, O Kelu and the local MLA did not fetch up owing to political reasons!

The second was our yatra from the Museum Junction to the VJT Hall saying "No to drugs". Bishop Robinson of the Lutheran Church and other cultural leaders participated in the yatra which was spoilt by rain to a little extent. 80 college going youth - also part of the National Service Scheme (NSS) - formed the backbone of the yatra.

Returned to the Foundation, changed and caught the the Swift bus to Guruvayur that left Thiruvananthapuram at a quarter past 7. Dinner of chappathis and vegetable korma had somewhere at Ettumanoor.