Nearly 18 lakh people are expected to reach polling booths to choose their representatives in the three-tier local civic bodies as the district goes to polls on Thursday.
As many as 17.13 lakh people had exercised their voting rights in the last local body elections in 2015, marking 80.41 per cent polling. Considering the high polling percentage in the first phase of elections held in other parts of the State, a good number of voters are expected to reach the polling booths in spite of the COVID-19 scare.
Palakkad has 23.35 lakh voters, with 12.15 lakh women and 11.20 lakh men. As many as 5,016 candidates are in the fray for 88 grama panchayats. For the municipalities of Palakkad, Chittur-Thathamangalam, Ottappalam, Pattambi, Cherpulassery and Shoranur, there are 809 candidates.
3,000 polling stations
As many as 3,000 polling stations have been arranged across the district. Polling equipment was distributed to polling officials on Wednesday.
About 18,000 officials collected the equipment and headed towards their respective polling stations by evening. The booths were set by late evening. As many as 2,707 polling stations are in panchayats and 293 in municipalities.
Masks will be mandatory for voters. They will have to sanitise their hands before and after voting. Voters will have to remove the mask only if demanded by the polling officials as part of identification. Three voters will be allowed to enter the polling station at the same time. It will be better if the voters carry a pen with them, said the officials.
There will be separate queues for men and women. The differently abled, senior citizens and breastfeeding mothers will get priority at the polling station. Voters have been advised not to carry children along with them to the booths. There are 3,000 presiding officers, 9,000 polling officers and 3,000 assistant polling officers, apart from 3,000 officers in reserve. There will be 20 counting centres in the district spread across 13 block panchayats and seven municipalities. The counting will take place on December 16.
District officials said that green protocol would be observed in all polling stations. Disposable and plastic materials will not be permitted in the booths.
More than 5,000 police personnel have been deployed for election duty under the supervision of 12 Dy.SPs.