Coming as it does six months before the Assembly elections, both the ruling CPM-led LDF and Congress-led UDF saw the civic polls as a ground test for the bigger battle due in May next year. The third political factor in the state, BJP also put up candidates in almost the entire seats giving the contest a semblance of a triangular fight.
Police fired two rounds in the air at Kannavam in the politically-volatile Kannur district to disperse a group of alleged BJP supporters attacked them with stones and country bombs, sources said.
Minor scuffles involving workers of BJP, CPM, Muslim League and SDPI (political arm of Popular Front) were reported from parts of Kannur and Kozhikode districts.
According to State Election Commission sources, slightly over 70 percent turnout was recorded in the seven districts that went to polls on Saturday. However, the final percentage is likely to go up once the final figures reached the headquarters late in the evening, the sources said.