Local body polls: Over 75,000 candidates to fight it out

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over 75,000 candidates are in the fray for the local body polls. The electoral scene emerged late on Monday, the last date for withdrawal of nominations. While 54,494 candidates are in the fray in 941 grama panchayats, the candidates contesting in 152 block panchayats and 14 district panchayats are 6,877 and 1,317, respectively. The 86 municipalities in the state will see 10,339 candidates in the fray. In the six corporations, 1,986 candidates will fight it out. 

Meanwhile, State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran on Monday convened a meeting of the directors of panchayat and urban affairs to assess the preparedness for the polls. Bhaskaran directed officials to intervene in case any violation of Model Code of Conduct is detected and to inform the State Election Commission (SEC) if its intervention is required.

The secretaries of panchayats, municipalities and corporations should set up polling stations in their respective jurisdiction.The centres for distribution and collection of polling material in panchayats will be set up at the block level. Block panchayat secretaries have been directed to ensure sufficient infrastructure in such centres.

In municipalities and corporations, the centres should be located in their respective jurisdiction. The onus of ensuring adequate infrastructure facilities in the centres will be on secretaries of these local bodies. Special monitoring teams will be set up at the departmental level to scrutinise the election process and to ensure that polling officials are carrying out the SEC’s instructions, including implementation of Covid protocol.

•  According to the State Election Commission, the final number of candidates who are contesting the local body elections is subject to a slight change as more information emerges from various local bodies
•  State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran has stressed on green protocol to be followed in the polls and has reminded officials of the SEC’s earlier order banning use of plastic and flex materials for campaigning
• At 8,497, Malappuram has the highest number of candidates in fray, followed by Ernakulam (7,256), Thrissur (7,020) and Palakkad (6,532)
• Wayanad has the least number of candidates with only 1,858 in the fray 
• On Nov 20, after the scrutiny of the nominations filed from various districts, over 1.68 lakh candidates were found eligible to contest. Here too, Malappuram topped with 20,183 candidates
• A total of 2.76 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the polls. They include 1.44 crore women, 1.31 crore men and 282 transgender people

Trivia  corner

In Kottayam, the battle to the district panchayat is mostly being regarded as a direct fight between Jose K Mani and Joseph groups of KC(M). Also, BSP, AAP and some independents are contesting in the Kottayam district panchayat elections from various divisions.

Sixth innings

The local body elections this year would be the sixth outing for Johnson Joseph, the 63-year-old Congress candidate from Nalanchira ward under the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Johnson had been the Opposition leader in the council for three consecutive terms.