Kozhikode, Dec 10 (UNI) The second phase of the Kerala local body elections will be conducted on December 11, with voting scheduled from 7 am to 6 pm across seven northern and central districts: Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod.
A total of 604 local bodies, including 470 grama panchayats, 77 block panchayats, 7 district panchayats, 47 municipalities, and 3 municipal corporations, will go to the polls. Voters will elect representatives in 12,391 wards, spanning panchayats, municipalities, and corporations.
The voter list for this phase includes 15,337,176 electors. Of them, 7,246,269 are men, 8,090,746 are women, and 161 are transgender voters. The rolls also feature 3,293 overseas voters.
A total of 38,994 candidates are contesting in this round, 18,974 men and 20,020 women. The largest number of contestants is in grama panchayat wards (28,274), followed by municipalities (5,546), block panchayats (3,742), corporations (751), and district panchayats (681).
For the smooth conduct of polling, 18,274 polling stations have been arranged. Among these, 2,055 booths have been marked as sensitive: Thrissur (81), Palakkad (180), Malappuram (295), Kozhikode (166), Wayanad (189), Kannur (1,025), and Kasaragod (119).
Election machinery for the phase is in full readiness, with 18,274 control units and 49,019 ballot units prepared after the completion of the candidate-setting process. An additional 2,631 control units and 6,943 ballot units have been kept as reserve equipment.
