Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is set to conduct a three-phase polling to elect people's representatives for more than 1,000 three-tier local self-government bodies with voters in four districts each going to the booths on separate days, starting December 8.
The State Election Commission announced the election schedule here on Friday. In all, voting would be held for 1,199 local governments out of the 1,200 in the state. Mattannur Municipality is the lone local body where elections would be held only two years later.
Concerns over the still-raging COVID pandemic in the state delayed the announcement of the elections as well as influenced the decision on holding them over three days.
The voting dates are December 8, 10 and 14.
In the first phase, on Dec 8, voting would be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki districts.
In the second phase, on Dec 10, it is the turn of Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad districts.
In the last phase, on Dec 14, voting has been scheduled for northern districts Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod.
Votes can be cast from 7am to 6pm. The Commission urged all voters to take necessary precautions against COVID. Masks and the regular use of sanitizers are mandatory at the voting centres.
The candidates would know their fate at the hustings on December 16.
The Commission said the new governing body will be sworn in before December 31.
The announcement was made by the State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran on Friday.
Three-phasing polling is unprecedented for the state as all previous local body polls were conducted in two phases. All local bodies polls in the state since 1995 were held in two stages on two different days. While the first three elections after 1995 were held in September, the 2010 polls were conducted in the last week of October. Last elections in 2015 were held in the first week of November.
File nominations before Nov 19
The notification for the 2020 polls would be issued on November 12.
Candidates can file the nominations to enter the fray until November 19. The scrutiny of nominations is scheduled for November 20 and nominations could be withdrawn latest by November 23.
The elections are for 941 gram panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 86 municipalities and 6 municipal corporations.
The Model Code of Conduct has come into effect from Friday as the election schedule was announced.
Can COVID patients, those in quarantine vote? YES
Postal voting facility has been arranged for those who are in quarantine or undergoing COVID treatment.
Those who require this facility must inform the officers at least three days before the date of polling.
The Commission is also thinking of various ways to allow a COVID patient or those in quarantine to visit the polling station for casting the vote. One suggestion being considered is the use of PPE kits. A decision has not yet been taken.
357 additional polling booths
The State Election Commission has sanctioned additional 357 polling booths for the upcoming local body elections to be held in line with the COVID-19 protocol in Kerala.
With this, the total number of polling booths has increased from 34,423 to 34,780.
While 230 of the new booths are in corporations and municipalities, 127 are in gram panchayats. The number of booths in the urban areas has increased from 5,213 to 5,443. And in rural areas, it has increased from 29,210 to 29,337.
Those polling booths with more than 1,500 voters in the municipalities and over 1,200 voters in panchayats were divided. However, if the number of additional voters is less than 100, then the old booths were retained.
Malappuram tops voter count
The state has 2.71 crore voters, as per the voters' list published by the local bodies on October 1. Malappuram district has the most number of voters, 32.83 lakh. And Wayanad had the lowest number of voters, 6.12 lakh.
Election expenses
The election expenses of candidates have also been revised. In grama panchayats, it has been increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.
In block panchayats and municipalities, it has been increased from 30,000 to Rs 75,000. And in district panchayats and corporations, it has been increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 60,000.
