Second phase of voting begins in Kerala civic elections

Thiruvananthapuram: The second phase of the Panchayat elections in Kerala began on Thursday morning in the remaining seven districts, with ruling Congress-led UDF, opposition CPI(M)-led LDF and BJP locking horns in the electoral contest. Among the early voters were IUML supremo Panakkad Shihab Thangal, Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty and UDF convener P P Thankachan. [caption id=“attachment_2495882” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Voters queue up to cast their vote in Kasargod on 2 November. PTI[/caption] A total of 44,388 candidate are in the fray for 12,651 seats in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram where the polling is being held on Thursday. Two corporations — Kochi and Thrissur — and 55 muncipalities, 576 gramma panchayats, 89 block panchayats and seven district panchayats are among the local bodies where the second phase polling is being held. First phase of the polls was held on 2 November in Kasargod, Kozhikode, Kannur, Idukki, Kollam, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram. The counting of votes will be held on 7 November. The local body elections is crucial this year as Assembly polls are to be held by mid-next year and the civic results would indicate the political trend in the state. The polls will also test the BJP’s efforts to break the bipolar polity in the state, led by Congress-led UDF and CPI(M)-led LDF, by corning the support of Ezhava outfit Sree Narayana Darma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP). While Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is confident of good performance in the civic polls and has maintained that the outcome will be a referendum of the four-and-a-half-year rule of his government, the Opposition is hoping that the various corruption charges that had hit the ruling front would give them an edge. 92-year old CPI-M veteran V S Achuthanandan led the LDF’s campaign. PTI