Live relay, videography, police protection: Kerala High Court’s directions for ‘smooth’ December local body polls
Kerala HC election directions, Kerala local body polls 2025: In a batch of petitions, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan issued a slew of directions so that the local body polls are “smoothly conducted” on December 9 and 11.
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Dec 10, 2025 12:27 PM IST
Kerala local body polls 2025: The Kerala High Court has directed the state police and the election commission to take multiple measures to ensure the smooth conduct of the local body polls on December 9 and 11. The image is enhanced using AI.
Kerala local body polls 2025: The Kerala High Court recently issued a slew of directions, including live webcasting and deploying additional force in hyper-sensitive booths, to the police and the state election commission for the smooth conduct of the local body general election on December 9 and 11 across the state.
Justice PV Kunhikrishnan, while hearing the petitioners who sought smooth elections, ordered the police authorities and the officers of the state election commission to “do the needful”.
Live webcast, additional force for hypersensitive booths
The December 8 order further directed the police authorities to ensure live webcast and deputing additional police force in the booths identified by the state election commission as “hyper sensitive booths and sensitive booths”.
Police protection
Justice Kunhikrishnan said that the petitioners were free to file an application for getting police protection concerning the life of the candidates, their agents, etc., before the specific district police chief or commissioner of police within three days of the order.
The court directed the state police to provide “sufficient protection” as per the law to those persons.
The Kerala High Court clarified that the state police must deploy “additional police force” in case of a “law and order problem” in any area during the elections.
The court also suggested the proper way to seek such additional police force security and highlighted that the candidates and their agents should submit applications for the same.
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The court, however, clarified that additional police force would be deployed when the police officers are convinced of the genuineness of such an application.
Videography in polling booths
The court considered videography of the polling booths if any of the petitioners file an application before the jurisdictional district election officer within three days from the date of the order.
The order consequently directed the district election officers to allow such videography at the expense of the applicants concerned.
Kerala local body election 2025
On December 9, elections were held in seven districts, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, and Ernakulam, for more than 11000 wards across panchayats, municipalities, and three corporations. The polling began at 7 am on December 9, covering wards in 595 local bodies.
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The second phase of the elections will be held on December 11, and counting of votes will take place on December 13.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor had urged voters to actively participate in the elections and said, “My appeal to voters in Kerala to cast their votes in the local self-government elections. I am sacrificing my attendance record in Parliament by heading there myself tomorrow afternoon to do so. We will be choosing those whose work affects the essentials of daily life in our towns and villages; roads, water, sanitation, electricity and more.”
Richa Sahay is a Legal Correspondent for The Indian Express, where she focuses on simplifying the complexities of the Indian judicial system. A law postgraduate, she leverages her advanced legal education to bridge the gap between technical court rulings and public understanding, ensuring that readers stay informed about the rapidly evolving legal landscape.
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