Thrissur all set for local body polls

Thrissur district is all set for the local body elections on Thursday, with 7,208 candidates in the fray across 86 grama panchayats, 16 block panchayats, seven municipalities, the Corporation, and the district panchayat. As the campaign noise fades, the administrative machinery has shifted to top gear to ensure a smooth and safe polling day.

According to the final electoral rolls, the district has 27,36,817 voters, including 14,59,670 women, 12,77,120 men, and 27 transgender voters. Among them are 54,204 first-time voters, marking a significant addition to the district’s democratic base.

From 24 distribution centres, polling personnel collected voting machines and materials under the supervision of returning officers and local body secretaries. There are 15,753 polling officials, including 3,282 presiding officers, 3,282 first polling officers, and 6,564 polling officers. Each booth will have a team of four officials, and 20% of the officials have been kept on reserve to manage last-minute contingencies.

Thrissur will have 3,282 polling stations—2,749 in grama panchayats, 317 in municipalities, and 216 in the Corporation limits. To enhance transparency and monitoring, 81 sensitive booths will be equipped with webcasting.

A total of 4,757 police personnel will be deployed to ensure security. In Thrissur city limits, 1,648 booths will be under the watch of teams led by City Police Commissioner Nakul Rajendra Deshmukh. In the rural sector, under District Police Chief B. Krishnakumar and Additional Superintendent of Police T.S. Sinoj, security arrangements span 1,634 booths, supported by officers from multiple uniformed wings.

To coordinate the entire process, a district-level control room has been set up at the Collectorate. District Collector Arjun Pandian, who also serves as the District Election Officer, oversees operations along with Additional District Magistrate T. Murali and Election Deputy Collector K. Krishnakumar. The control room will monitor webcasting feeds, track polling percentages updated every hour via the Poll Manager app, and respond to technical or procedural issues in real time.

The elections will strictly adhere to the green protocol. All polling booths have been prepared with eco-friendly materials—voters will mark attendance using ink kept in clay or steel bowls; staff ID tags use safety pins instead of plastic; waste is segregated in baskets made from palm or coconut leaves. Haitha Karma Sena volunteers will be stationed at every booth to ensure compliance. Post-poll sanitation will be carried out immediately.