Vengara witnessed 72% polling when the Assembly constituency went to a byelection on Wednesday.
The polling figures, however, are likely to change slightly as the final official tally was to come by late evening. The constituency had recorded 70.77% polling in the 2016 Assembly elections.
The polling began at 7 a.m. and closed by 6 p.m. at most of the 165 polling booths. Most centres witnessed steady progress of polling as voters reached in groups, large and small, since morning. Although voting machines reported malfunctioning at a couple of booths, no major delay was reported from anywhere.
More than 51% of the electorate had cast their votes by 2 p.m. By 3 p.m., the polling figures rose to 57%, by 4 p.m. to 64% , and by 5 p.m., the figures to 69%.
The byelection at Vengara was brought about by the relinquishment of the Assembly seat by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty following his election to the Lok Sabha in a byelection from Malappuram on April 12. Although there were six candidates in the fray, the key contest was between K.N.A. Khader of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and P.P. Basheer of the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Mr. Basheer had lost to Mr. Kunhalikutty by 38,057 votes in the 2016 Assembly election.
Mr. Basheer polled his vote at GLP School, Mamburam, along with his family in the morning. He said he felt blessed to have cast his vote along with family in an election where he was a candidate. Neither UDF candidate Mr. Khader nor BJP candidate K. Janachandran had their respective votes at Vengara.
1.7 lakh voters
There are 1.7 lakh voters in the Vengara Assembly constituency, which is made up of A.R. Nagar, Vengara, Othukkungal, Oorakam, Parappur, and Kannamangalam pancha yats. As many as 87,750 of them are men and 82,259, women.
As many as 165 polling stations, including 17 auxiliary booths, were set up for the byelection. Five of them were declared model stations. Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines were used at all the booths. Those machines helped the voters verify their votes.
Polled voting machines were broug ht back to PSMO College, Tirurangadi. They will be kept at the college under security for three days. The counting of votes will take place on Sunday.
