: More than three lakh ballot papers have been printed for the elections to be held to 82 grama panchayats, 13 municipalities, 14 block panchayats, district panchayat and the Corporation.
Polling to the Corporation will be through 1,660 electronic voting machines while 12,785 EVMs will be deployed for the district panchayat, 11,850 for block panchayats, 3,081 for municipalities, and 11,515 for the grama panchayats.
Corporation accounts for 21,415 postal ballots, district panchayat 85,190, block panchayat 66,915, municipalities 23,018, and grama panchayats will account for 64,660 postal ballots.
Defacement
Fort Kochi sub collector and returning officer for Corporation divisions 1to 25, S. Suhas, has asked candidates to remove illegally placed campaign materials, including posters, boards, and banners, before 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Else, the defacement squad will remove them and the expense for the same would be treated as the campaign expenditure of candidates concerned.
Second phase
The second phase tour of the Information and Public Relation Department’s vehicle to familiarise voters with the multi-post electronic voting machines will start in the district on Wednesday.
The vehicle will cover Vallarpadam, Elamkunnapuzha, Njarakkal, Nayarambalam, Edavanakkad, Pallathamkulangara, and Cherai on the day.
Postal ballots
The State Election Commissioner has said that postal voting facility would be provided to officers on election duty. Officials can apply for postal voting at least seven days before voting or within a minimum period allowed by the returning officer who will issue postal ballots on being convinced that the applicant is on election duty.
