Kochi: The elections to the local self government bodies in Kerala will be held in three phases on December 8,10 and 14. The State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran made the announcement on Friday.
In the first phase, elections will be held in five districts Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki on December 8. In the second phase on December 10, polls will be held in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad. Elections to the local bodies in the four northern districts Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod will be held in the final phase.
The counting and announcement of results is scheduled for December 16. New governing councils will take charge before December 31. The election notification will be published on November 12 and the last date for filing nominations is November 19.
Polling will be from 7 AM to 6 PM and the process will be conducted in strict compliance with COVID-19 protocol. Social distancing and use of face mask and sanitizer has to be followed strictly, said the Election Commissioner.
Voters under quarantine can exercise their franchise through postal votes for which they have to submit an application three days in advance.
A total of 2.71 crore voters will cast their votes to elect their representatives to 1199 local bodies. There are 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 the six municipal corporations.
The Election Commission will set up a total of 34,744 polling stations.
