Mainstream political parties have started getting into election mode as State Election Commission (SEC) officially sounded the poll bugle on Saturday. The three-tier local body polls will be held in the district on November 2.
The total number of wards in the district has increased to 1,762 from the existing 1,697. However, the total number of panchayats has come down from 75 to 70 following the formation of five new municipalities. The number of block panchayats and district panchayats has been retained at 12 and 27 respectively.
The wards have been determined at the sitting of the Delimitation Commission chaired by the SEC. At present, the district has 1,335 wards in 75 grama panchayats and 169 wards in the 12 block panchayats. There are 47 wards in Vadakara and 44 in Koyilandy municipalities and 75 in Kozhikode Corporation while, the district panchayat has 27 divisions.
The district gets five new municipalities - Feroke, Ramanattukara, Mukkom, Koduvally and Payyoli - after the State government upgraded these grama panchayats. This had subsequently made the SEC to redraw the contours of the existing 27 divisions of the district panchayat.
Similarly the areas of four block panchayats, Kozhikode, Kunnamangalam, Koduvally and Meladi have shrunk with the formation of these new five municipalities. The government was also forced to rescind its decision to include Kadalundi grama panchayat in Chelannur block. Now it will remain in Kozhikode block.
No changes have been made to the Kozhikode Corporation Council which will have 75 wards. The number of municipalities would have increased to 10 had not the Kerala High Court quashed the notification to divide Kozhikode Corporation and form the Cheruvannur-Nallalam, Beypore, and Elathur municipalities, erstwhile gramapanchayats that had been merged to the civic body in 2010.
In the previous local body polls, the LDF won 617 out of the 1,335 wards. CPI (M) alone secured 569 wards, while its partners CPI got 23; NCP, 12; Nationalist Secular Conference, 7; INL, 4; Congress(S), 1; Kerala Congress, 1 and Independents, 2.
In the UDF camp, the Congress won from 308 wards, IUML, 295; SJ (Democratic), 51; Kerala Congress (M), 14 and Independents, 18. Independents won from 20 and BJP in 11 wards.
This time the polls will be keenly-watched as the BJP plans to enter the fray in a big way.
