Elections in Kerala

State

State-level elections are held to fill the Kerala Legislative Assembly.

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Local Self Government institutions

Panchayat Elections is a term widely used in Kerala, India, for the polls that are held to select the Local Self-government Representatives. There are three branches of local self-government institutions in Kerala. They are Grama Panchayat which can be translated as Village Government, Block Panchayat and District Panchayat. A Grama Panchayat is almost an equivalent to City administration and District Panchayat to a County. There are two more wings namely Municipality which is another form of Block Panchayat that exists only in major towns and Corporations that come only in six major cities.
The State has 978 Grama Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 60 Municipalities and 6 Corporations. Consequent to the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) are to function as the third tier of government. In Kerala, LSGIs have been meaningfully empowered through massive transfer of resources as well as administrative powers. Coupled with a grassroots level approach of participatory planning whereby the developmental programmes are identified and implemented through Grama Sabhas (Ward councils), the LSGIs have emerged as effective agencies for the implementation of developmental programmes.State Election Commission, Kerala came into existence on 3 December 1993 as envisaged in Article 243(k) of the Constitution of India. The superintendence, direction and control of preparation of voters list and conduct of election to the local self-government Institution vest with the Commission.