Hectic preparations are under way for the polls to be held on October 23 for the 38 grama panchayats, three municipalities, six block panchayats and the district panchayat that consists of 16 divisions. Training for polling officials is complete and the polling would be held in 1,424 booths, according to a press release here.
Of the total 8,72,456 voters, women voters outnumber men. There are 4,54,049 women voters while the number of male voters is put at 4,18,407.
There are 7,66,610 voters in the 38 grama panchayats and 1,05,846 in three municipalities. One of the six block panchayats in the district, Karadukka has 1,05,129 voters with 51,626 male voters and 53,503 female voters. Parappa has 1,33,062 voters with male voters numbering 64,665 and female voters 68,397.
Voters in the rest of the block panchayats: Manjeshwaram-1,47,884 voters with 73,248 men and 74,636 women; Kasaragod-156,445 voters, 78,308 men and 78137 women; Kanhangad - 1,19,972 voters with 55,065 men and 64,907 women; Nileshwaram -1,04,118 voters with 47,063 men and 57,055 women.
Of the 1,424 polling stations, 292 are categorised as sensitive and efforts were under way to beef up security in those booths. Altogether, 2,696 police personnel would be deployed to man the polling booths across the district. Of the 2,606 aspirants contesting in the polls, 1,297 are women.
As many as 14,313 government personnel have been deployed for poll duty in the district. There are 579 vehicles for polling duty and 167 for maintaining law and order. The counting of votes will commence at 7 a.m. on October 27.
The ballots of Karadukka block, Kasaragod block and Kasaragod municipality would be held at the Kasaragod Government College.
The counting of votes for Manjeshwaram block would be held at the Manjeshwaram Govinda Pai Memorial Government College, Kanhangad block at the Durga Higher Secondary School, Kanhangad, Nileshwaram block at the Nehru Arts & Science College, Kanhangad, Parappa block at District HSS, Parappa.
The counting of votes for the Kanhangad municipality would be held at GHSS, Hosdurg and for Nileshwaram municipality, the process would be held at Rajas High School, Nileshwaram.
