Kerala Local Body Election Results 2020 LIVE updates: Congressional mayoral candidate N Venugopal loses to BJP rival by 1 vote in Kochi

Kerala Local Body Election Results 2020 LATEST Updates: Congressional mayoral candidate N Venugopal lost to the BJP candidate in the North Island district of Kochi Corporation by just one vote.

BJP continues to maintain its leadership in the municipality of Palakkad, the only urban body that had won in the 2015 local body surveys.

According to the first trends provided by the state electoral commission, the LDF is led by five districts in Thiruvananthapuram, four districts in Varkala municipality, and one district in Neyyattinkara.

The count began today at 8 a.m. for 21,893 districts in 1,200 local agencies that went to the polls in three phases. At the polling stations, postal votes will be counted first, followed by votes cast by COVID-19 patients and then those issued through EVM.

All eyes are on the results of Kerala’s crucial local body elections, seen as the semifinal ahead of the Assembly elections to be held next year, as the counting of votes is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. .Wednesday December 16).

In general, the surveys for a total of 21,893 districts in 1,200 local organizations (panchayats, municipalities and corporations) were carried out in three phases under strict COVID-19 rules. Voters were asked to sanitize their hands when entering and leaving the polls.

Voters, who were COVID-19 Positive or those quarantined after 3 p.m. Wednesday were allowed to cast votes in their respective booths at night after other voters had exercised their right to vote.

The third phase reports the highest vote

Polls for the third and final phase of the local agency polls concluded on December 14, and the state election commission reported an overall turnout of 78.62 percent in the northernmost fourth districts surveyed.

According to details released by the SEC, the Kozhikode district recorded the highest turnout with 78.98 percent in the finals, followed by Malappuram (78.86 percent) and Kannur (77.54 percent). Kasaragod had the lowest voter turnout at 77.14 percent.

Voting was conducted in the four districts to elect representatives in 6,867 districts in 354 local organizations, including two Corporations and 31 municipalities.

Among the 10,842 polling stations, 1,105 were identified as sensitive and webcasting facilities and special security arrangements were introduced there, officials from the State Elections Commission (SEC) said.

Elections have been postponed in two districts, Thillankeryward in Kannur district panchayat and Thathoor division in Kozhikode’s Mavoor Panchayat, due to the death of candidates.

Energetic probing in the second phase

The second phase of the elections was held on December 10 for two corporations, 36 municipalities, 350 village panchayats, 58 block panchayats and five district panchayats in the districts of Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad.

The overall vote in the second phase was 76.78 percent, with the highest voter turnout in Wayanad district (79.39 percent) and the lowest in Kottayam with 73.89 percent.

Ernakulam reported a voter turnout of 77.02 percent, Thrissur 74.92 percent, Palakkad 77.83 percent. The two corporations, Kochi and Thrissur, recorded 61.90 percent and 63.62 percent, respectively.

The second phase reportedly included a total of 8,116 rooms in 451 local entities in the second phase. Of the total of 12,643 polling stations in the second phase, 473 were identified as sensitive and an Internet broadcasting service was installed there.

A 58-year-old woman fainted upon returning after voting at the polls in Wayanad district and later died on her way to the district hospital, authorities said. Police from the district special branch identified the deceased as Devi from the Varinilam colony in nearby Thrissilleri in Thirunelli panchayat.

Bathery ASI Mathew Police Station said senior civilian police officer Karunakaran (45) collapsed and died while on duty at a polling station at Assumption School near Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad around 1 p.m.

Lower participation in the first phase

The first phase of voting concluded on December 8, during which voters cast their votes to elect representatives for 6,910 districts in 395 local bodies in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki.

The first phase for the southernmost districts recorded a 73.12 percent share.

Two people had died after casting their vote in the first phase of the polls on Tuesday.

LDF expects an iconic victory

As previously reported, the LDF’s main focus during the campaign was the achievements of the four-and-a-half-year-old Pinarayi Vijayan government.

Effective disbursement of social welfare pensions, measures adopted to address the coronavirus The pandemic and the implementation of various programs through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board (KIIFB) and the High Tech Schools project were some of the various initiatives touted as achievements of the left government during the campaign.

Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who voted in the final phase of the elections, expressed his confidence that the ruling LDF would achieve an impressive victory in the crucial local body elections, seen as a start for next year’s Assembly elections. .

“The left front is going to achieve an iconic victory in the polls. Those who have voted so far have given us great support,” he told reporters in Kannur.

Earlier, LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan had said that the ruling front faced civic elections with confidence and that recent controversies against the government had not damaged its image.

The remarkable contributions of the left government in agriculture, education, health and social welfare and its effective intervention during the time of COVID-19 and the floods would help the ruling front to get maximum seats, he said.

The UDF led by the Opposition Congress focused on the controversies related to the gold smuggling case, the alleged corruption in connection with the Life Mission project and the allegations against the Chief Minister’s Office in the campaign.

They also raised during the grassroots campaign the arrest and imprisonment of the son of the CP (M) secretary of state, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Bineesh, in a money and drug laundering case in Bengaluru and the unexpected separation of Balakrishnan as secretary of state of party on the threshold of civic polls.

Kerala Pradesh Congressional Committee (KPCC) Chairman Mullappally Ramachandran has said that the UDF faces civic elections with the slogan ‘one vote against corruption’.

He said that the multilevel corruption of the left-wing government had been exposed and that the ruling front faced stiff opposition from the general public and that it would be reflected in the civic body’s polls.

However, the surveillance cases against various UDF leaders and the arrest of their law enforcement members VK Ibrahim Kunju and MC Kamaruddin in corruption cases were a setback for them during the campaign.

As for the NDA, the election would show whether the various development programs started by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Center have helped the party find a place in the bipolar politics led by the LDF and UDF for decades.

With PTI inputs