THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the preliminary arrangements for the local body elections now complete, the distribution of polling equipment including the electronic voting machines (EVM) will be held on Monday. District Collector Navjot Khosa urged the public to strictly follow Covid protocol while voting. All polling booths will be disinfected, he said.
A total of 28,26,190 voters will cast their votes in the district on December 8. In 1,727 wards of various local bodies, 6,465 candidates will face the elections in 3,281 polling stations. Among voters 14,89,287 are women, 13,36,882 are men, and 21 are transgender people. Four polling officers, one attender and one police officer will be present in each polling station.
The number of booth agents present for candidates shouldn’t exceed 10. Every polling station will have water, soap and sanitiser available. Voters queuing outside polling stations should also follow social distancing. The distribution of polling slips around the booths should also be done following Covid protocol.
Campaign material on the premises of polling stations should be removed by Sunday evening. In the corporation and municipalities, materials within 100m of the booth should be removed, while in panchayats, materials within 200m should be removed.
Who is voting?
Panchayat
Voters: 18,37,307
Women: 9,73,932
Men: 8,63,363
Transpersons: 12
T’Puram city corporation
Voters: 8,02,799
Women: 4,18,065
Men: 3,84,726
Transpersons: 8
Municipalities
Neyyattinkara
Voters: 64,475
Women: 34,236
Men: 30,239
Nedumangad
Voters: 55,966
Women: 30,086
Men: 25,879
Transpersons: 1
Attingal
Voters: 32,658
Women: 14,983
Men: 17,675
Varkala
Voters: 32,985
Women: 17,985
Men: 15,000