Chairmen and deputy chairmen of local bodies will be elected on December 26 and 27, the State Election Commission said on Tuesday, December 16.
Chairmen and mayors of municipalities and corporations will be elected on December 26 at 10:30 a.m. At 2:30 p.m. on the same day, the vice presidents of the municipality and the deputy mayors of the municipality will be elected.
Chairpersons of grama, block and district panchayats will be elected on December 27 at 10:30 am. Vice-Presidents will be elected on the same day at 2:30 p.m. In case of Corporations and District Panchayats, the District Collectors are the Returning Officers. In grama and block panchayat, the concerned returning officers are appointed officials. Returning officers were specially assigned for municipalities.
Process
One member/councillor must propose a candidate and another member must second him. If the proposed member is not present, his written consent must be submitted. A member may not propose or broadcast multiple nominees. The name of a member applying for a reserved seat need not be proposed or provisionally assigned.
More contestants
In the event that more than one candidate applies for the position, the election will be held by public vote. Members who have cast their vote are required to state their names and affix their signature on the back of the ballot. If there is only one candidate, he will be declared elected without a vote.
The electoral meeting has a quorum of at least half of the elected members of the concerned local authority. If a quorum is not reached, the election will be postponed to another working day. In this case, a quorum will not be required.
If there are only two candidates, then the person who received more votes will be elected. In the event that both candidates receive the same number of valid votes, the winner will be announced by drawing lots. The person whose name is drawn first will be declared elected.
If there are more than two candidates, the process is a bit more complicated. If one of the contestants gets more votes than the other two combined, he will be declared elected. If no contestant receives that many votes, the contestant with the fewest votes is eliminated and the election continues. This process will continue until a candidate receives more votes than all the others combined.
If there are three or more candidates and the lowest votes are tied for two or more candidates, a draw will take place and the person whose name is drawn will be eliminated.
Elected members/councilors who have not taken a pledge or declaration are not entitled to vote.
Members/Councillors are required to cast their vote by marking an “x” against the candidate of their choice. After writing their own name and affixing their signature, members should place the ballot in the box/tray near the returning officer.
If the election is held in multiple phases, ballots of different colors will be used in each phase.
Once the election is over, mayors, chairpersons, presidents are sworn in before the returning officer. Deputy mayors, vice-presidents and vice-presidents take the oath in front of the mayors, the president and the president.
The SEC announced that newly elected members and councilors of local bodies will take oath or declaration on December 21.
Wandoor block panchayat members will take oath on December 22. The five-year tenure of this block panchayat will not end on December 20. Chokkad grama panchayat members will take the pledge on December 26. The chairmen and vice-chairmen in these local bodies will be elected on 31 December.
Published – 16 Dec 2025 17:06 IST
