THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Elections to local self-government institutions will be held in one schedule in the last week of September. The election notification will be issued in the last week of August, State Election Commissioner N. Mohandas told a meeting of District Collectors on Friday. The appointment order of returning officers will be issued soon. The Collectors have been told to provide the list of polling stations by August 18. They should also give the list of counting stations that have facilities to count the votes of district, block and grama panchayats simultaneously.

The delimitation of wards in 982 out of the 998 grama panchayats, 46 out of the 54 municipalities and four corporations has been completed. The order on delimitation of wards in block panchayats is expected to be issued within the next two days. The Commission will conduct public hearings on delimitation of wards in all the 14 district panchayats only after publishing the draft list of delimited wards in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur panchayats on August 16.

Out of the 54 municipalities, 18 will have women as chairpersons. The post of chairperson in four municipalities will be reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for women belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.

Kochi and Thrissur will have women Mayors during the next tenure. The State Election Commission will take a decision on reserving the posts of chairpersons of municipalities, panchayats and corporation Mayors for women on Wednesday. District Collectors will finalise the reservation of wards for Scheduled Castes, Tribes and women through draw of lots. The local self-government institutions as well the wards that were reserved for various categories during two tenures from 1995 will not be considered for the selection. Hence, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kozhikode will not figure in the selection process that is expected to be completed by the end of the week.

Electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used in corporations and municipalities. The Commission has requested for 7,000 voting machines from the Central Election Commission. Chief Secretary Palat Mohandas promised all assistance to the Commission to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner. Local Administration Secretaries P. Kamalkutty and S.M. Vijayanand and Commission Secretary K.K. Remani also attended the meeting.

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