Voting for the by-election to the Pala Assembly constituency began at all the 176 booths by 7 a.m. on Monday.
With all signs of a higher voter turn-out, polling is progressing at a brisk pace with 13.20% votes being cast in the first two hours.
A total of 13 candidates are in the fray, with the Congress-led UDF, the CPI(M)-led LDF and the BJP-led (National Democratic Alliance) leading the pack. The by-election was necessitated following the death of Kerala Congress (M) stalwart K.M. Mani on April 9 .
Among those who voted in the first couple of hours include the UDF candidate Jose Tom Pulikkunnel, LDF candidate Mani C. Kappan and the family members K.M. Mani, including his son Jose K. Mani, MP.
While Mr. Kappan and Mr. Pulikkunnel cast their votes at the Government Polytechnic School, Kanattupara, and Govt. LP School, Poovathode, respectively, Mr. Mani and family dis so at booth No. 128 set up at St. Thomas High School, Pala around 8.45 a.m.
VIP voters, including Pala bishop Joseph Kallarangattu, actor Miya, filmmaker Bhadran and others, also cast their votes in the morning.
The proceedings during the day began with a mock poll at 6 a.m. to ascertain the functioning of the EVMs, control units and the computer system attached to it in the presence election agents. Following this, the polling officers issued a certificate on the number of votes cast and then the memory of the machine was erased to make it ready for the polling at 7 p.m.
EVMs replaced
Meanwhile, EVMs in as many as six booths had to be replaced upon developing technical glitches during the mock poll.
As many as 1,79, 107 persons, including 91,378 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the constituency.
