Kalpetta: Candidates contesting in the local body elections in Ward 11 of the Meppadi Panchayat are scrambling to trace voters who have scattered to different locations in the aftermath of the devastating landslides in Mundakkai and Chooralmala.

Those who survived the tragedy have been relocated to different parts of the region, some beyond the panchayat, the district and even the state borders. Several of the voters here now live in Cherambadi, Tamil Nadu, about 33 km away, while some from Chooralmala are currently living nearly 154 km from their native village, in rented houses at Mundoor in Palakkad.

Survivors have also settled in different parts of Wayanad, including Pulappally, 54 km away, and Mananthavady, 52 km from the affected sites.

Mundakkai and Chooralmala, both part of Ward 11 of the Meppadi Panchayat, together account for 2,336 voters across two booths. Of these, more than 1,000 voters are now living outside the ward limits. Of the 980 families that once lived in Chooralmala, only about 270 remain.

During the ward delimitation process after the tragedy, the two affected wards were merged to form a new ward named Mundakkai–Chooralmala.

Similarly, the neighbouring Attamala ward (Ward 10) too has lost almost all of its human habitation. Although the voters’ list records 825 eligible voters, only a handful of families living near the Chooralmala hill remain in the ward.

During the Lok Sabha elections last year, KSRTC operated special bus services to bring displaced Chooralmala voters to the polling booths in Meppadi. Political coalitions had also arranged vehicles to facilitate voting. Similar efforts are being planned this time as well, with parties attempting to bring in the maximum number of voters. In the previous local body elections, the UDF had won the Mundakkai, Chooralmala and Attamala wards.