Thiruvananthapuram: Voting for the first phase of the Kerala local body elections began this morning in seven districts. Polling started at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm. Officials have said that voters who receive a token before closing time will still be allowed to vote.

The districts voting today are Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam. A total of 595 local bodies are included in this phase, covering gram panchayats, municipalities, block panchayats, district panchayats and corporations.

Election officials reported that around 1.32 crore registered voters are eligible to participate. Among them are men, women and a small number of transgender voters. More than 36 thousand candidates are in the contest, including one transgender c

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