By The second phase of the local body elections in Kerala began in five districts on Thursday.
According to the figures provided by the state election commission as of 9 am, an overall 15.87% polling has been recorded in the first two hours. Wayanad was ahead with 16.63%, followed by Kottayam with 16.52%, Thrissur with 15.94%, Ernakulam with 15.66% and Palakkad with 15.36%.
Across the five districts, voters will choose representatives to two corporations, 36 municipalities, five district panchayats, 58 block panchayats and 350 grama panchayats. Contests in the Thrissur corporation, Kochi corporation and the Palakkad municipality, ruled by the LDF, UDF and BJP respectively in the last council, are the most keenly watched.
The state election commission has set up 12,643 polling booths in the second phase, of which 473 are sensitive in nature and will therefore have webcasting facility.
There are 51,28,361 women voters and 47,28,489 male voters in the second phase.
The first phase of polls in the five southern districts saw a turnout of 73.12%, marginally lower than the previous elections in 2015. The third and final phase of polls in the northernmost districts are scheduled on Dec 14. The votes will be counted on Dec 16.
