First phase of local body polls begin in Kerala's 7 districts

The first phase of the Kerala local body elections began on Tuesday, across 7 districts — Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam. Voting will continue till 6 pm. A total of 1,32,83,789 voters are eligible to cast their votes in 11,168 wards across 595 local bodies. Women outnumber men, with 70,32,444 women, 62,51,219 men and 126 transgender voters.