The Elections Department yestreday announced that the elections for the remaining local government bodies would be held on October 17.

Nominations for the elections in 17 municipal councils, one urban council and five Pradeshiya Sabhas are to be open from August 18 till August 25. The deposits for independent groups are accepted up to August 24.

The relevant gazette notification would be published today.

The elections in October would conclude the local government elections that were held in three stages commencing in March this year.

Sri Lanka held elections for 234 of the 335 local authorities in the country on March 17 this year and the ruling party UPFA won 205 of the councils.

Elections were held on July 23 for 65 local councils including 26 in the Northern Province.

Elections for the localities that were not held in March due to the hosting of Cricket World Cup would be held this time.

Two more local government institutes in the Mullaitivu district are not ready for elections as the demining operations are still in progress.