Kerala - Kochi

Victory celebrations

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The mood outside the District Collectorate, from where real-time information on the progress of counting of votes in 14 constituencies was announced, bore a sombre look from the time counting began.

People gathered in large numbers inside the Collectorate compound but did not enter the civil station premises owing to the strict warnings issued against people thronging the corridors and areas around the media centre.

The collectorate was connected to the 14 counting centres in the district and the counting progressed without any hitch. There were large gatherings just in the Collectorate compound who confined their celebrations mostly to clapping of hands - the usual slogan-shouting and impromptu dances left to their party colleagues outside the compound.

LDF activists had put together a victory procession one hour into the counting outside the compound. The celebrations were not as noisy as they tended to be in the past.

Police presence was obvious all over the Collectorate compound as policemen kept a vigil over the District Administration headquarters.

(The Hindu - May 12, 2006)