Thiruvananthapuram: The State Election Commission (SEC) will announce the date and detailed schedule for the local body elections in Kerala on Monday at 12 noon. State Election Commissioner A Shajahan will make the announcement at a press conference here.

According to reports, the commission has already completed arrangements for the polls, which are expected to be held in December. The polls are likely to be conducted as two phases in the state.

A total of 2,83,12,468 people are listed as eligible voters in the final electoral roll published in October. Malappuram district has the highest number of voters — 35.74 lakh (35,74,802) — while neighbouring Wayanad has the least, with 6.40 lakh (6,40,183) voters.

The state is expected to witness a tight contest between the UDF and LDF, as in previous years. Currently, the LDF is in power in five corporations — Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur, and Kollam — while Kannur is the only corporation governed by the UDF.

On November 5, the SEC issued an order reserving three of the six mayoral posts in municipal corporations for women in the upcoming elections. Kochi, Thrissur, and Kannur are the three corporations reserved for women. While, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, and Kollam will have male mayors following the polls.

Among the state’s 87 municipalities, 44 chairperson posts have been reserved for women, including three for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. Of the total seats, six are reserved for SC members and one for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community.

In the 14 district panchayats, seven will have women presidents, and one post has been reserved for an SC member. The district panchayats with reserved president posts for women are Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Wayanad. In Ernakulam, the post has been reserved for an SC member, while the remaining districts fall under the general category. For the 152 block panchayats, 67 president posts have been reserved for women, including eight for SC women and two for ST women. Additionally, seven block panchayats will have presidents from the SC community and one from the ST community.