Kerala civic polls: Vijayan hopes for historic win, Cong too confident

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 14 : The third and final phase of the civic polls in Kerala began at 7 a.m. on Monday in the northern districts of Kerala and the key players in the contest, which is seen as the semifinal ahead of the finals — the Assembly polls to be held in May next year — expressed confidence that victory would be theirs, as people are strongly behind them.
Soon after casting his vote at his village in Pinarayi in Kannur, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was accompanied by his family, told the media that they are going to secure a historic win.
“Detractors of us (the Congress and the BJP) have joined together and with the help of Central agencies have been doing their best to discredit us, but, the people of Kerala have been angry and they are going to vote for us and provide us with a historic win,” said Vijayan.
“On 16th, the day of counting of votes will reveal who is the victor, even as attempts to discredit us is going on. On that day, all will know what’s the outcome,” added Vijayan.
Reacting to the allegations by the opposition parties that he had violated the poll conduct by announcing on Saturday that the Covid vaccines would be distributed free, Vijayan laughed and said, since they have nothing else to say, so they are saying this.
“Kerala is the only state in the country which is providing free Covid treatment and what was said about vaccines was just a follow-up on Covid. I have not violated any rule,” reiterated Vijayan.