Kerala local body elections to be held in two phases on December 9, 11

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Election Commission on Monday announced that local body elections in the state will be held in two phases, on December 9 and 11.

Polling in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Idukki, and Ernakulam districts will be held on December 9.

Voters in Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts will cast their votes on December 11.

Voting will take place from 7 am to 6 pm, and the votes will be counted on December 13.

The last date for filing nominations is November 21, scrutiny of nominations will take place on November 22, and the final date for withdrawal of nominations is November 24.

State Election Commissioner A Shajahan announced that polls will be conducted in 1,199 of the 1,200 local bodies in Kerala, with Mattannur Municipality excluded, as its council’s term is valid until 2027.

Elections are being held for 17,337 wards in 941 grama panchayats, 2,267 wards in 152 block panchayats, 346 wards in 14 district panchayats, 3,205 wards in 86 municipalities, and 421 wards in 6 corporations, the state election commissioner said.

Across the state, the number of wards in 1,200 local bodies has increased from 21,900 to 23,612 through the delimitation process, he added.

According to Shajahan, the voter list was revised twice, in August and October 2025, in accordance with the new ward boundaries.

He said that the final voter list, published on October 25, includes a total of 2,84,30,761 voters, comprising 1,34,12,470 men, 1,50,18,010 women, and 281 transgender persons.

A separate voter list has also been prepared for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), which includes a total of 2,841 voters—2,484 men and 357 women.

The supplementary voter lists will be published on November 14 and will be provided free of cost to recognised political parties, he added.

The state election commission has arranged 33,746 polling stations across the state.

Of these, 28,127 polling stations are for grama, block, and district panchayat wards, 3,604 for municipalities, and 2,015 for corporations.

The electronic voting machines to be used for polling have been manufactured and supplied to the state election commission by the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL).

The inspection of these machines has been completed under the supervision of ECIL engineers.

A total of 50,693 control units and 1,37,922 ballot units have been prepared for the elections, the commission said.

Symbols will be allotted to candidates under four separate lists.

Shajahan also announced that the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect immediately.

Monitoring committees will be set up in each district to examine complaints related to the Model Code of Conduct.

Shajahan said that the District Collector will be the chairperson of the committee, and its members will include the district police chief, the district information officer, the district joint director of the local self-government department, and representatives of major political parties.

"Prior permission must be obtained from the police authorities for vehicle-based campaigning, public meetings, and demonstrations. The use of loudspeakers is prohibited between 10 pm and 6 am. Campaign activities must be conducted within legally permitted sound limits," the EC said in a press release.

Advertising and publicity campaigns are allowed only up to 48 hours before the end of polling.

The commission said that it has deployed several IT applications for the elections.

"The electoral roll management system software is used for managing the voter list. The e-Drop application is used for recording details of officials assigned election duties. TREND is used for vote counting. Poll manager is employed by district election officers, returning officers, sectoral officers, and presiding officers for monitoring on polling day and the previous day," the statement said.

The nomination management system is used for candidates, and the EVM tracking software is used to track the electronic voting machines, the commission said.

On polling day, a mock poll will be conducted at each polling station at 6 am.

The counting of votes will begin at 8 am at the designated distribution centers.

"Postal votes will be counted first, followed by the votes recorded in the electronic voting machines. Votes from all polling stations within a ward will be counted at the same table. The progress of the counting will be made available in real-time through the TREND software," the statement said.

Once the term of the existing governing bodies of the local self-government institutions ends, the newly elected members and councillors must take the oath or affirmation of office, the commission said.

The government will issue guidelines regarding the date of the oath-taking ceremony and the convening of the first meeting.

Based on these directions, the respective returning officers will take the necessary follow-up actions.

"After the oath-taking of the members, elections for the chairperson, vice-chairperson, and standing committees will be conducted on the dates fixed by the commission," it added.