Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala CEO Rathan U Kelkar on Thursday said that the voting pattern indicates that the target of 90 per cent turnout can be achieved.

Chief Electoral Officer Kelkar urged all voters to come and exercise their right.

"If the current trend continues, by the time polling concludes, we are confident we will see a turnout of 90 per cent," he told reporters here.

The turnout witnessed a steady increase in the first half of the day from 16.23 per cent at 9 am to 33.28 per cent at 11 am and 49.70 per cent at 1 pm, according to EC figures.

The CEO said that voting was being carried out peacefully and by following all etiquettes at the over 30,000 polling stations in the state.

Kelkar said that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll has also impacted the turnout.

He said that there have not been any reports regarding any issues in voting, except at two booths where due to electronic voting machine (EVM) problems, there was a delay of 30 minutes in start of polling.

The CEO also said that halwa was being provided to first-time voters at select polling booths to make their polling experience sweet.

However, some first-time voters in Kozhikode told a TV channel that they did not receive halwa and on asking, polling officials said it had not arrived there.