Thiruvananthapuram: In what is seen as a curtain raiser for the upcoming Assembly polls, Kerala will vote to elect its representatives to local bodies in two phases on 9 & 11 December, the State Election Commission announced on Monday. The election results will be announced on December 13, Saturday.
State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan, who held a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, said that interested candidates can submit their nominations till 21 November, and scrutiny will be held till 22 November. The last date for withdrawing nominations is 24 November.
The first phase will be held in seven districts, including the capital Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, and Ernakulam. The remaining districts—Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad, and Kannur—will vote in the second phase.
The state has a total of 1,200 local bodies, 941 village panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 86 municipalities, and 6 corporations. The polls will be held for 1,199 of the total 1,200 civic bodies in the state, excluding Kannur’s Mattannur Municipality, whose tenure is not yet over.
In total, elections will be held in 23,576 wards, up from 21,900 in 2020, following delimitation. To ensure smooth voting, the Election Commission has set up 33,746 polling stations across the state.
The Election Commission has appointed 1,249 returning officers across the state, whose training is complete. Overall, 1,80,000 officials will be deployed for the election process, besides around 70,000 police personnel, Shajahan said.
In the 2020 local body polls, held in three phases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ruling LDF had achieved a sweeping victory, winning five municipal corporations, 11 district panchayats, 514 village panchayats, and 108 block panchayats.
With the Assembly polls expected early next year, the local body elections are considered the semi-finals, with political parties already launching early campaigns for the state polls. The LDF is banking on its welfare initiatives and developmental schemes to repeat its 2020 victory. A victory in the local body polls will boost the confidence of the party, which is aiming to secure a third term in the Kerala Assembly under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF is depending on the anti-incumbency factor. The party had suffered a huge setback in 2020, securing only one municipal corporation. In the 2021 Assembly polls too, the party won only 41 of the 140 seats, while the Left secured 99. The BJP, which doesn’t have a single MLA, is hoping to emerge as Kerala’s third front this time.
Both the BJP and the Congress have announced candidates for the crucial Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, with former MLA and KPCC leader K.S. Sabarinathan leading the Congress, and retired IPS officer R. Sreelekha leading the BJP.
Kerala has 50 percent reservation for women in local bodies, and this year, mayoral posts in Kochi, Thrissur, and Kannur corporations are reserved for women.
“If the president’s post is not reserved for women, the vice president’s post will be. In municipalities, if the chairman’s post is not reserved, the vice chairman’s will be. If the mayor is a man, the deputy mayor will be a woman,” Shajahan said.
According to the Election Commission data published on 25 October, the state has a total of 2,84,30,761 voters, of which 1,34,12,470 are male, 1,50,18,010 are female, 281 are transgender, and 2,841 are non-resident Keralites. The commission will publish a supplementary list of voters, with additions and changes, on 14 November.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Kerala local body polls: Congress bets on early start, mix of young & old faces to revive its base