Kollam: More than 450 voters from the former Kovilthottam ward in the Chavara grama panchayat, Kollam, will not be able to cast their vote in the local body elections after the ward was abolished during the delimitation process. Though the affected voters staged protests, officials failed to resolve the issue.

The Kovilthottam ward was depopulated when residents were evicted after their land was acquired for black sand mining. Many of these voters later moved to neighbouring wards under Chavara grama panchayat- including Thattassery, Cherussery Bhagom and Kulangara Bhagom- and to Mekkad ward under Panmana grama panchayat.

However, their documents still listed their address as the Kovilthottam ward. When the ward was abolished, it had 1,327 registered voters across two polling booths at a lower primary school.

After all the residents vacated the Kovilthottam ward, the authorities enrolled them in the newly created Karithura-Kovilthottam ward. A draft voter's list was also published earlier in 2025 by including residents who shifted to Mekkad in Panmana. However, when the final list was released, these 450 voters in Mekkad were removed, leading to protests. At the same time, the people who began living in various wards in the Chavara grama panchayat were enlisted in the respective electoral rolls.

The omission of the 450 voters in Mekkada was noticed when political party activists examined the final voters’ list for the local body election. Many of the families who have been excluded have five or more voters.

"Even though we are residing in other places, we have not changed our official address in Kovilthottam as the authorities had promised resettlement in the same ward," said a former resident of the Kovilthottam ward.

The families who are left out of the voters’ list include those of Francy Valentine of Aykkara House and Francis of Jessy Mandiram, each having four votes, and that of Kochuputhanpura Leon, with five votes. They, and other affected families, have sought urgent measures for retention of Kovilthottam ward and their resettlement in the locality.