kochi the second phase of the local body elections in five central districts of the state on thursday saw a voter turnout of 7638 higher than 7267 in the first phase wayanad recorded the highest polling percentage of 795 followed by palakkad 7797 ernakulam 7713 thrissur 7503 and kottayam 7391the state election commission said the voters who exercised their franchise included 3672206 men 3851350 women and 15 transgenders these included covid19 patients who turned out in full protective gear the two corporations that went to polls on thursday kochi and thrissur recorded 6201 and 636 polling respectivelywayanad saw two electionrelated deaths on thursday karunakaran m 45 a senior civil police officer on strongroom duty at assumption school in sulthan bathery collapsed around noon and died in hospital around 430pmfinal phase of polls on mondaya 58yearold woman also collapsed and died after casting her vote at thrissilery government higher secondary school in mananthavady around 10amvoters had turned out in large numbers at many polling booths right from early morning and police had to intervene in many booths to ensure the social distancing normspolling in all five districts crossed 50 by 1pm and the turnout was steady in the afternoon too in corporations and municipalities there were huge lines of voters in the eveningglitches were reported in voting machines in several places and they were replaced with spare machines the evm failed three times in ward no 23 kunnathurmedu thrithala of palakkad municipality leading to a delay in polling by two hours and protests from voters and political parties technical experts from the district headquarters who had to intervene said the complaint was with the plug points and not the machinethere were also complaints of voters missing from the list at many places the names of actor mammootty and his family members were missing from the list while some voters in kochi corporation and chellanam panchayat also raised similar complaintsin kottayam where the rival kerala congress m factions went to polls there was heavy polling all through the day erattupetta municipality in the district recorded the highest polling percentage of 8535 among the municipalities the day also saw wadakkanchery mla anil akkara accusing minister a c moideen of misusing his official position and voting before 7amthe third phase of elections will be held on december 14 while the results will be announced on december 16