Kerala is a state with 2.71 crore voters, and yesterday, they showed up in big numbers - 79.63% of them, to be exact. They voted across 140 constituencies, and the counting process is set to begin at 8 am tomorrow. The Election Commission has set up 140 counting centers across 43 locations, and they'll be counting the votes from electronic voting machines (EVMs) in batches of 14 booths at a time.

The counting process is expected to give us a broad picture of the outcome by afternoon, but there's a possibility of discrepancies arising between the number of votes recorded at a booth and the figures stored in the EVMs. In such cases, the Election Commission will be counting voter-verifiable paper trail (VVPAT) slips to ensure the accuracy of the results.

Most exit polls have predicted a close contest, but they're giving an edge to the Congress-led UDF, which has been out of power since 2016. The election is being viewed as a do-or-die battle, and both the Congress-led front and the ruling LDF are optimistic about their chances.

The Congress-led UDF is upbeat about its chances, thanks to its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, assembly bypolls, and local body elections. They're hoping to win a significant number of seats, with some exit polls projecting 80-90 seats. The ruling LDF, on the other hand, is confident that its development initiatives will translate into votes, and they're expecting to win 75-80 seats.

A defeat for the LDF would mark the first time since the 1960s that Left parties are no longer in power in any state in the country. The BJP-led NDA is also eyeing the Kerala election as a crucial opportunity to expand its footprint in the southern state. They're targeting a vote share of over 20%, up from the 12.51% they secured in the 2021 assembly election.