TRIVANDRUM, 24 September 2005 — Eight southern districts will go to the polls today in the first phase of Kerala civic polls sealing the fate of 46,199 candidates in 11,829 wards of the village, block and district councils and municipal and city corporations.
In the biggest election Kerala has seen, people will elect 991 grama panchayats (village councils), 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 53 municipal councils and five city corporation councils in two phases. In the fray are 64,159 candidates, including independents.
State Election Commissioner N. Mohandas said all the arrangements were put in place and the polling would begin at 7 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. Additional forces were brought in from the neighboring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to guard 20,927 polling stations.
