Thiruvananthapuram: The local body elections in the state will be conducted in two phases. State Election Commissioner K. Sasidharan Nair said that the election schedules would be announced before October 5. In the first phase, polls will be held in three southern districts and four northern districts. The second phase elections covering the other seven districts will be held after a gap of two days.
The elections will be over before the onset of Sabarimala season from November 15 so that the deployment of police forces would not be affected.
The election commissioner, who held a meeting with chief secretary Jiji Thomson to review the arrangements for the poll on Wednesday, said that the notification would be issued when the election date is announced. Finalisation of the election schedule was getting delayed owing to the delay in completing the delimitation process. The commissioner also clarified that those having dues in banks or cooperative organisations were not barred from contesting. Anganwadi and Asha workers and employees of cooperative banks and aided schools could also contest the polls, he said.
