Thiruvananthapuram: The second phase of the local-body election, covering five districts, will be held on Thursday, with two corporations, 36 municipalities, five district panchayats, 58 block panchayats and 350 grama panchayats up for grabs.
There are 98,56,943 voters in the five districts — Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad — going to the polls today. Thrissur leads the way with 26,91,372 voters.
There are 51,28,361 women voters in the list for the penultimate phase, while men number 47,28,489. New voters in these five districts comprise 57,895. The state election commission has set up 12,643 polling booths for the second phase. Among these, 473 have been declared sensitive and will have webcasting facility.
About 63,187 officials and 19,736 police personnel have been deployed for the smooth conduct of voting. The police force will include 63 DySPs, 316 inspectors, 1,594 sub-inspectors and senior civil police officers.
The first phase of voting seems to have boosted the confidence of parties with leaders – across the political spectrum – talking up their chances.
The contest for the Kottayam district panchayat will be one of the most closely watched in the second phase. UDF currently controls the panchayat and the Congress has been relying heavily on Oommen Chandy for campaigning here. The former chief minister spent more than a week in the district. LDF, meanwhile, is betting on its newfound ally, the Jose K Mani-led faction of Kerala Congress (Mani), to turn the tables.
Along with Jose, the Kottayam district panchayat will be decisive for the other KC (M) faction, led by P J Joseph, which decided to stay in the UDF. The heft they will command in their respective fronts will be determined based on the number of seats they win here and the other local bodies in the district.
Kochi and Thrissur corporations will also be in focus. While UDF will be hoping to retain Ernakulam, LDF is eyeing a major upset. In Thrissur, BJP is gunning for a good showing. It also cannot afford to lose Palakkad municipality, which was its sole scalp at the municipal level in 2015.
Though Wayanad is considered a UDF bastion in Lok Sabha and assembly elections, this has not been the case in local-body polls. The front will be looking to defy the odds this time, especially with Rahul Gandhi representing the constituency in Parliament.