The high-voltage campaigning for the first phase of the crucial local body polls in Kerala, considered a semi-final for the Assembly elections next year, concluded at 6 pm on Sunday.
Announcements, processions and demonstrations related to the electioneering ended on Sunday evening. There will be a silent campaign on Monday. After a day of noiseless vote-seeking, people will reach the polling booths on Tuesday to cast their votes. The candidates took up high-octane whirlwind tours of their constituencies to make a final, fervent public pitch to voters. The enthusiasm of the fierce contest was evident in clamorous road shows and corner meetings.
Seven southern districts, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam, will go to polls on Tuesday in the initial phase. Voters in the rest of the seven districts, including Thirussur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur, Wayanad and Kasaragod would use their franchise on December 11.
As per the figures of the Election Commission, 1,32,83,789 people will cast their votes to decide the political future of 75,632 candidates in 23,576 wards across the state in the two phases.
The results in all 1,199 local bodies are scheduled to be announced on December 13. With just a day left for the first phase polls, all three major traditional fronts have expressed confidence in garnering the largest number of seats in the three-tier local bodies across the southern state.
The campaign was filled with the Sabarimala gold loot and sexual assault case against expelled Congress leader Rahul Mamkootathil. While the Sabarimala gold heist put the CPI–M–led LDF on the defensive, the Rahul Makootathil sexual assault case put the Congress–led UDF in a difficult situation. The UDF and the BJP turned the Sabarimala gold robbery into a weapon against the CPM. With the inclusion of Padmakumar and N Vasu, the CPM centres were shocked. The LDF projected the government’s development and welfare initiatives to gather votes, while the UDF campaign mainly concentrated on the alleged corruption, Sabarimala gold theft, misgovernance, and extravagance of the ruling LDF.
The BJP campaign focused on highlighting the achievements of the Modi government. The party promised to bring development and infrastructure initiatives to various local bodies.