Voting for the second and concluding phase of civic polls began in Kerala on Monday, amid shadow of violence in the first leg of polling held on Saturday.
The districts covered by the second phase are Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram.
Early reports said the voter turn out was brisk in rural areas but yet to pick up in urban centres, including the prestigious Kochi corporation.
Senior leaders of the CPI-M and the Congress had traded charges over violence in parts of politically volatile Kannur, Kasargode and Kozhikode in north Kerala in the first phase of polling.
With the state Assembly elections just six months away, the campaign for the local bodies had assumed a serious dimension with the ruling LDF and the Congress-ld UDF putting all efforts to demonstrate their political clout at the grass roots level.