Thiuruvananthapuram: After a bitter wrangle with the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front(UDF) over the conduct of local body polls in Kerala, State Election Commission on Saturday announced that the elections will be held in two phases on November two and five.
Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Idukki, Kozhikode, Kannur, Waynad and Kasaragod districts will go to polls on November 2, while elections in Kottayam, Pathnamthitta, Alapuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Palakkad districts will be held on November 5, State Election commissioner K Sasidharan Nair told reporters.
The results would be announced on November seven. The polls are considered crucial as it is being held few months before the Assembly polls slated in 2016.
Despite the Election Commission asking the state government to give up the delimitation proposals initiated and go to the civic polls on the basis of existing wards, the government went ahead with its decision to form 69 gram panchayats and 8 municipalities carved out of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode corporations. This ran into rough weather with Kerala High Court quashing the same while upholding the formation of 28 municipalities across the state and Kannur corporation. The polls would be held in 941 gram panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 86 municipalities, and 6 corporations.
Both the Fronts -- Congress led UDF and CPI(M) led LDF Opposition would be sparing no efforts to woo the voters.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday said the UDF was confident that it would repeat their performance in Aruvikkara assembly bypoll, which it had won recently.
"If the UDF and the Congress stand united, we will reap rich success," he told reporters soon after the poll dates were announced.
The opposition has stated that it will go for local adjustments with groups and organisations and individuals who oppose the Congress and BJP. The saffron party has already started cosying upto the SNDP, an organisation of the strong backward Ezhava community. SNDP General Secretary Vellapally Natesan also met Prime
Minster Narendra Modi two days ago at Delhi.
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