Kerala Assembly Election 2026: Kerala Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ratan U Kelkar on Tuesday said all preparations have been completed for the assembly elections to be held on April 9, in which 883 candidates will try to garner the support of the state’s 2.71 crore voters.

Kelkar said that 30,495 polling stations have been established in the state. He said that these also include 24 auxiliary polling stations, which were required after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.

According to Kelkar, new polling stations will be set up in Kasaragod, Kannur, Palakkad, Malappuram and Ernakulam districts of Kerala. He said that out of these polling stations, 352 will be operated by women and 37 will be operated by disabled persons.

According to Kelkar, 140 distribution and collection centers have been set up and counting of ballot papers will be done in 140 ‘strong rooms’.

He said, ‘As part of the management of the election process, we have deployed 1.46 lakh trained election officers. 76,000 police personnel and central forces personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order and ensure peaceful voting.