Civic polls begins in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram : The first phase polling for local civic body elections covering seven of the 14 districts in Kerala began peacefully on Saturday, election and police officials said.

Voting began in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanthitta, Kozhiode, Waynad, Kannur and Kasargod where a little over ten million adults are expected to exercise their rights to elect new bodies of corporations, municipalities and panchayats for next five years.

Nearly half of the seats are reserved for women.

Altogetehr 9238 seats spread around three-tier panchayats and urban civic bodies are at stake for some 29,000 candidates.

The elections are fought mainly between the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front (UDF) headed by the Congress.