Malappuram(Kerala), Jun 19: Voting in the by-poll for the Nilambur Assembly constituency in Kerala commenced at 7 am on Thursday.
Polling commenced amidst tight security arrangements, including the deployment of central security forces and police, along with live monitoring of the by-election process through an extensive webcasting system.
People began arriving early in the morning at the 263 polling booths across the constituency, which has over 2.32 lakh voters who will elect their representative from among 10 candidates.
Among the 10, the key contenders are ruling LDF pick M Swaraj, Aryadan Shoukath (Congress-led UDF), Trinamool Congress state convener and independent candidate P V Anvar and Mohan George of the BJP-led NDA.
The by-election was necessitated after Anvar resigned as MLA of the constituency following his severing of ties with the CPI(M)-led LDF over certain allegations by him against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his close aides.
On Thursday, voting commenced after a mock polling was carried out in the morning to check if the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were working.
The final voter list includes 1,13,613 men, 1,18,760 women and 8 transgender persons, with 7,787 first-time voters, 373 overseas voters, and 324 service voters.
Election officials received polling material on Wednesday from the distribution centre at Chungathara Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School.(PTI)
