The month-long campaign for the three-tier local body elections concluded peacefully in the district at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
This time, electioneering did not reach a feverish pitch during the final hours as the district administration had asked the political parties to adhere to the COVID-19 protocol. Hence, the campaigners focused mainly on door-to-door visits. However, small marches were taken out by political parties in different parts of the district.
“All arrangements are in place for the local body polls,” said District Collector and District Election Officer Adeela Abdulla. A total of 6,25,455 voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the elections.
As many as 1,857 candidates are in the fray in the district and 988 of them are women. While 737 candidates are contesting in the general category 1,120 candidates are in the reservation category.
A total of 848 polling booths, including 99 polling stations for 99 divisions of the three municipalities and 749 polling stations for 413 grama panchayat wards, have been set up in the district.
As 22% of the voters in Ward 16 of Thavinhal panchayat were Tamil linguistic minorities, the ballot paper would be printed in Tamil language too, said Ms. Abdulla.
As many as 1,206 electronic voting machines had been arranged and 5,090 persons deployed on election duty in different parts of the district.
District Police Chief G. Poonguzhali said the department had made elaborate security arrangements to ensure hassle-free, free and fair polling in the district. As many as 152 booths in the district have been identified as vulnerable and sensitive booths. Of them, 132 have been identified as Maoist-affected booths. Armed guards and special police officers under a deputy police superintendent would be deployed in Maoist-affected booths, she said. Webcasting would be held in 83 booths and video recording in 83 booths, added Ms. Poonguzhali.
