THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Counting of votes of the recently-concluded local body elections, billed as the 'semi-finals' before the assembly polls in May, has begun in 244 centres across the state on Wednesday.
The counting process began at 8.00 am and the state election commission expects all the results to be out by afternoon.
Postal votes - including special postal ballots for Covid patients and those in quarantine and the postal ballots of officials deployed for election duty - are being counted first.
The counting of votes in municipalities and corporations will be held in the respective distribution-reception centres.
For the three-tier local bodies, the counting of votes will be held at the block level.While Ernakulam has the highest number of counting centres at 28, the least number of counting centres (seven) is in Wayanad.
The State Election Commission expects the total number of postal ballots to be in the range of around 25-50 in a booth. Hence it does not expect a major delay in result declaration, despite an increased number of postal votes this time.
The local body elections, held in three phases, had recorded an average voter turnout of 76.04 per cent.
The three major fronts - LDF, UDF and NDA - have exuded confidence that they would emerge victorious.
The BJP, meanwhile, has claimed that it will record a three-fold increase in seats this time compared to the previous election.