Overview
- State Election Commissioner A. Shajahan said polling will be held Tuesday across Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam after all arrangements were completed.
- Phase I covers 595 local bodies with 11,168 wards, involving about 1.32 crore voters, 36,630 candidates and 15,432 polling stations.
- Open campaigning ended at 6 p.m. on December 7, with a silent day before voting runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on December 9 following 6 a.m. mock polls at booths.
- Security plans include 480 sensitive stations with live webcasting and videography, with district deployments such as 3,125 police in Ernakulam rural limits.
- Parties frame the civic polls as a bellwether for the 2026 Assembly race, as grassroots contests feature unusual tie-ups and face-offs, including Congress-CPI(M) teamwork in Ponmundam and CPI challenges to CPI(M) in Kuttanad.