THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Polling began at 7 am for the first phase of local body election in the state on Tuesday. Five districts - Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki - are voting on Tuesday. This is the first election to be held in the state amid the COVID pandemic.
Voters started queuing up at polling stations well before 7 am in many centres. Mock polling was held to test the functioning of EVMs. Voting is being held in 11,225 polling booths with an electorate of 88.26 lakh - including 46.68 lakh women, 41.58 lakh men and 61 transgender voters.
Polling booths were thoroughly sanitised on Monday, with soap, water and sanitisers being arranged as part of Covid-related precautions. For the first time, an official has been deployed in each polling station exclusively to ensure that COVID protocol is being followed.
Only three voters are being permitted at a time inside the polling booth as part of COVID precautions. A total of 16,968 police personnel have been deployed for security and 56,122 officials have been assigned for polling duty.