Local body elections in 2 phases

The elections to the local bodies in Kerala will be conducted in two phases on October 23 and 25.

Announcing the decision, the state election commissioner said Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kasargodu & Kannur districts would go to polls on October 23. Kottayam, Alapuzha, Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Malappuram and Ernakulam districts will go to polls on October 25.

The model code of conduct came into effect as soon as the date of elections was announced. The official notification regarding elections would be published on September 27.

The Nominations would be accepted till October 4. The scrutiny of the nominations would take place on October 5 and the last date of withdrawal of nominations is October 7.

Counting of votes is scheduled for October 27. The new office bearers would assume office on November 1.

Elections would be held to 978 Grama Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 59 Municipalities and five corporations. Mattanoor municipality would not go for polls as the term of office of the governing body would end only on 2011.

Cong registers thumping victory in Kerala

The Congress led United Democratic Front has retained all the three assembly constituencies defeating their arch rivals CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front with a huge margin, the results for which were announced on November 10.

Two times MP from Kannur A P Abdullakutty, who had joined the Congress after his long stint with the Marxists, won the Kannur Assembly on a Congress ticket with a huge margin of 12,043 votes. CPI (M) candidate M V Jayarajan got 41,944 votes.

Former Minister Dominic Presentation of the Congress won the Ernakulam constituency, defeating his CPI (M) rival P N Seenulal for a margin of 8,620 votes. Congress candidate A A Shukoor defeated Mr G Krishnaprasad of the CPI in Alappuzha. Shukoor won the constituency with a margin of 4,745 votes.
The BJP could not fare well in the three assembly segments. BJP candidate in Kannur, Renjith, could only poll 5,665 Votes. In Alappuzha, K Babu got only 2,247 votes and Sobha Surendran in Ernakulam bagged only 7,208 Votes. .. Read more at www.keralz.com