Kerala Enters Crucial Second Phase of Local Body Polls as 1.53 Crore Voters Decide Power Across Seven Districts

Mumbai: Kerala moved into a high-stakes second phase of its 2025 local body elections on Thursday, with polling officially beginning at 7 am across seven key districts. Voting will continue uninterrupted until 6 pm as lakhs of citizens queue up to elect their grassroots representatives for the next five years.

This phase will seal the fate of candidates in 12,931 wards spread across 604 local bodies, a network that includes gram panchayats, block panchayats, district panchayats, municipalities and the state’s three corporations. More than 1.53 crore voters are eligible to participate, making it one of the largest single-phase civic exercises undertaken in the state.

A total of 38,994 candidates are in the fray. With the first phase recording a strong 70% turnout, election officials are anticipating an equally energetic response today. By 10.40 am, the voter turnout had already crossed 25.37%, with all seven districts reporting over 20% polling. Malappuram district led the early numbers with an impressive 26.47% turnout.

The Election Commission has set up 18,274 polling stations, of which 2,055 have been categorised as sensitive due to their history of disturbances. Kannur once again topped the list with 1,025 sensitive booths, while Thrissur recorded the lowest at 81.

To prevent any disruption, thousands of police personnel have been deployed across the state. All sensitive stations are under live web surveillance, and real-time monitoring is being carried out through district-level control rooms and the central command centre of the State Election Commission. Senior officials, including district police chiefs and city police commissioners, are supervising the security grid.

On Wednesday, candidates wound down their campaigns with silent door-to-door outreach, a last-minute attempt to rally undecided voters before the mandated campaigning blackout came into effect.

Authorities also conducted extensive mock polling drills ahead of voting day—testing EVM functionality, voter verification mechanisms and security coordination—to ensure that the second phase unfolds smoothly.