Local body elections in the State will be held in three phases in the first half of December, the State Election Commission (SEC) V. Bhaskaran has said.
Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki districts will go to the polls on December 8; Ernakulam, Kottayam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad on December 10; and Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod on December 14. The voting time is 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Counting of votes will be on December 16. The new elected councils will take charge before Christmas.
The model code of conduct came into force on Friday, the SEC said.
Elections will be held in 21,865 wards in 1,199 local bodies, except the Mattannur municipality where the five-year term has not been completed. These include 15,962 wards in 941 grama panchayats, 2,080 wards in 152 block panchayats, 331 wards in 14 district panchayats, 3,078 wards in 86 municipalities and 414 wards in six municipal Corporations.
The COVID-19 containment protocol will be strictly enforced in all activities pertaining to the elections. The commission has earlier issued detailed guidelines pertaining to this aspect of the elections.
The additional voters' list will be published on November 10. The final list published by the commission on October 1 had 2.71 crore voters, including 1.3 crore men, 1.41 crore women and 282 transgender persons.
There will be 34,744 polling stations in all, including 29,321 in grama panchayats, 3,422 in municipalities and 2,001 in six Corporations. Steps are on to appoint polling officers. The inspection of electronic voting machines was progressing, Mr. Bhaskaran said.
Given the COVID-19 scenario, the commission had decided to postpone the elections to December. On Wednesday, the Cabinet had decided to place the local bodies under the rule of three-member administrative committees after November 11. The term of the elected councils ends on November 11.
Poll expenses revised
The commission increased the election expenditure of candidates. For candidates in the grama panchayats, the ceiling has been upped from ₹10,000 to ₹25,000. In the block and municipalities, it has been increased from ₹30,000 to ₹75,000; and in Corporations and district panchayats, from ₹60,000 to ₹1.5 lakh.
