The general elections to 1,208 local self-government institutions in the State will be held in two phases on October 23 and October 25, State Election Commissioner P. Kamalkutty has said.
Mr. Kutty told reporters here on Tuesday afternoon that Thiruvananthapram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad and Kozhikode districts will go to the polls on October 23 and Alappuzha, Idukki, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram on October 25. The newly-elected committees will assume office on November 1. The model code of conduct has come into force with the announcement of the elections.
Filing of nominations will begin on September 27 once the commission issues the election notification. Nominations can be filed till October 4. They papers will be scrutinised on October 5. The last date for withdrawing the nominations is October 7. Polling wil be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Counting and result announcement having been scheduled on October 27.
As per the latest figures, there are 978 grama panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 60 municipalities and five corporations in the State. Out of the 60 municipalities, except Mattanur municipality where elections were held only in 2006, all others will go the polls as per the schedule announced today. Elections will be held in Mattannur only in 2011. Thus voters of 21,612 divisions will exercise their franchise in the two phases. As many as 8,000 electronic voting machines will be used n the corporations and municipalities. As many as 2.25 lakh employees will be deployed for election duty. Stringent action will be taken against government employees involving in campaigning. Using places of worship for campaigning too be treated as a violation of the poll code, he said.
