Kerala civic polls phase I: 24,584 in fray on Tuesday

All is set for the conduct of the first phase of the three phased Kerala local body polls which is to be held in five southern districts of the state on Tuesday,  where the fate of 24,584 candidate would be sealed.

Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki districts goes to the polls where polling will begin at 7 a.m. and will end at 6 p.m.

The principal contestants include candidates from the three major political fronts which include the CPI-M led Left, Congress-led-UDF and the BJP-led-NDA.

Across the state, in the 2015 local body polls, the Left holds around 60 per cent of the seats, followed by the Congress, while the BJP won a mere 1200 seats out of the around 21,000 seats at  the various three tier local bodies.

Incidentally the BJP is hoping against hope that they will be able to create wonders when the votes will be counted to the most prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which has always been  the citadel of the Left.

The BJP in 2015, which threw out the Congress from the opposition ranks in this Corporation is expecting it will emerge victorious.

However the Left which barely managed to hold on to power in the last five years with a tally of 50 seats, out of the total 100 divisions, is expecting to improve its tally in order to rule without a coalition.

The Congress considers themselves as the dark horse.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was not seen campaigning for the Left and it was attributed to the various scams and scandals that has besieged his government.

The CPI-M though claimed that Vijayan is indoors on account of the Covid scenario and high risk to his health.

Across the five districts 11,225 polling stations are there and the total electorate include 41,58,341 men, 46,68,209 women and 70 transgenders.

The election process will be manned by 56,122 officials. On Monday morning the staff started collecting the polling materials and by noon they will be reaching the polling stations.