Snake inside VVPAT machine holds up polling in Kerala's Kannur

An unusual, crawly "visitor" in a polling booth in the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency, held up voting for a brief while Tuesday.

A small snake was found inside a VVPAT machine in a booth at Mayyil Kandakkai in the constituency, which is witnessing heavy polling, triggering panic among officials and voters.

However, the reptile was soon removed and the voting continued.

The Kannur constituency, where sitting MP P K Sreemathy (CPI-M-LDF), K Surendrdan (Cong-UDF) and C K Padmanabhan (BJP-NDA) are trying their luck, is witnessing brisk polling since the morning.

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From spokesperson jumping parties to controversial statements on martyrs and ambiguity on the Congress president's citizenship, amid all the political bustle the country walks into the third phase of Parliamentary elections on April 23. 

With 15 states, 117 seats and 1640 candidates in fray, the states that will go to polls on Tuesday are- 

Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Gujarat (26), Goa (2), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Karnataka (20), Maharashtra (14), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (10), West Bengal (5), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1), Daman and Diu (1)

Polling percentage recorded as of 1 pm for the third phase of Lok Sabha 2019 elections

• Assam - 44.68%, 
• Bihar - 31.62% , 
• Goa- 30.40% , 
• Gujarat - 26.57% , 
• J&K - 4.72%, 
• Karnataka - 26.23%, 
• Kerala - 32.76%, 
• Maharashtra - 20.49%, 
• Odisha- 21.17%, 
• Tripura - 31.13% , 
• Up- 27.04%, 
• West Bengal - 42.20%
• Chattisgarh - 32.93%, 
• Dadra & Nagar Haveli - 21.62%, 
• Daman & Diu - 41.38%

The polls will see seats from where high profile candidates are contending: 

Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Amit Shah (BJP), Feroze Varun Gandhi (BJP), Azam Khan (SP), Jaya Prada (BJP), Shivpal Singh Yadav (PSP-Lohia), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF), Sharad Yadav (RJD), Ranjeet Ranjan (Congress), Sarfaraz Alam (RJD), Vijay Baghel (BJP), Jyotsna Mahant (Congress), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Arpita Ghosh (TMC), Abhijit Mukherjee (Congress), Badaruddoza Khan (CPI-M), Abu Taher Khan (TMC), Prakash Hukkeri (Congress), VS Ugrappa (Congress), Ananthkumar Hegde (BJP), Supriya Sule (NCP), Girish Bapat (BJP).

(With PTI inputs)

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