Thiruvananthapuram: The third and final phase of the local-body election on Monday will cover 354 self-government institutions in the four northern districts of Malappuram Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod.
A 89,74,993-strong electorate will be able to vote in 10,842 polling booths arranged in these districts. Of these, 1,105 booths have been categorized as sensitive and will be under camera surveillance. A team of 20,603 police personnel has been deployed. The state election commission has deputed 52,285 polling officials for election duty.
Malappuram has the most number of voters, with 33,55,028, followed by Kozhikode (25,34,099), Kannur (20,37,221) and Kasaragod (10,48,645). There are 71,906 new voters in the final phase, of which 34,453 are in Malappuram, followed by 18,692 in Kozhikode, 11,949 in Kannur and 6,812 in Kasaragod. Malappuram will have 3,975 polling booths, Kozhikode 2,987, Kannur 2,471 and Kasaragod 1,409.
Covid-19 testing not mandated: Poll panel
The state election commission has made it clear that no instruction has been issued for conducting Covid-19 tests on officials on poll duty and agents from various political parties. It has, however, instructed for their temperature screening at booths.
State election commissioner V Bhaskaran said those travelling from other states will also have to go through a screening process at polling booths. Other reports on mandatory Covid-19 testing are totally baseless, he said. Bhaskaran urged polling officials and police personnel to ensure that there is no overcrowding inside the compound of polling booths and physical distancing is ensured.
Counting for all the three phases will be held on December 16.