Kerala Local Body Elections 2025: Two-Phase Polling Schedule Announced for December 9 and 11

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Election Commission has announced that local body elections will be conducted across the state in two phases on December 9 and 11, 2025.

The first phase on December 9 will cover seven districts: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Idukki, and Ernakulam.

The second phase on December 11 will include the remaining seven districts: Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod.

Polling stations will operate from 7 am to 6 pm, with vote counting scheduled for December 13. Candidates must file nominations by November 21, followed by scrutiny on November 22, and the final withdrawal deadline on November 24.

State Election Commissioner A Shajahan confirmed that elections will be held in 1,199 of the 1,200 local bodies throughout Kerala. Mattannur Municipality has been excluded as its council's term remains valid until 2027.

The elections will cover 17,337 wards across 941 grama panchayats, 2,267 wards in 152 block panchayats, 346 wards in 14 district panchayats, 3,205 wards in 86 municipalities, and 421 wards in 6 corporations.

Through the delimitation process, the total number of wards has increased from 21,900 to 23,612 across the state's 1,200 local bodies.

The voter list has undergone two revisions in August and October 2025 to align with the new ward boundaries. The final voter list published on October 25 includes 2,84,30,761 voters—1,34,12,470 men, 1,50,18,010 women, and 281 transgender persons.

A separate voter list for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) contains 2,841 voters, comprising 2,484 men and 357 women. Supplementary voter lists will be published on November 14 and provided free of charge to recognized political parties.

The commission has established 33,746 polling stations statewide. Of these, 28,127 are designated for grama, block, and district panchayat wards, 3,604 for municipalities, and 2,015 for corporations.

Electronic voting machines manufactured by the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) will be used for polling. The commission has prepared 50,693 control units and 1,37,922 ballot units after thorough inspection under ECIL engineers' supervision.

The Model Code of Conduct has been implemented with immediate effect. District-level monitoring committees will be established to address complaints related to code violations. Each committee will be chaired by the District Collector and include the district police chief, district information officer, district joint director of the local self-government department, and representatives from major political parties.

Campaign regulations require prior police permission for vehicle-based campaigning, public meetings, and demonstrations. Loudspeakers are prohibited between 10 pm and 6 am, and all campaign activities must adhere to legal sound limits. Advertising and publicity campaigns are permitted only until 48 hours before the end of polling.

The commission has deployed several technological applications for election management. These include electoral roll management system software, the e-Drop application for recording election duty assignments, TREND for vote counting, and Poll Manager for monitoring activities on and before polling day.

Additional systems include a nomination management system for candidates and EVM tracking software to monitor electronic voting machines.

On election day, a mock poll will be conducted at each polling station at 6 am. Vote counting will commence at 8 am at designated distribution centers, beginning with postal votes followed by EVM votes. All votes from polling stations within a ward will be counted at the same table, with real-time results available through the TREND software.

After the existing local self-government bodies' terms conclude, newly elected members and councillors must take an oath or affirmation of office. The government will issue guidelines regarding the oath-taking ceremony date and the first meeting schedule. Following these directives, returning officers will take necessary actions.

After members take their oaths, elections for chairperson, vice-chairperson, and standing committees will be conducted on dates determined by the commission.