Palakkad bypoll: Voter turnout crosses 50%

Palakkad: Polling in the Palakkad assembly by-election on Wednesday crossed the 50 per cent turnout more than eight hours after voting commenced.

At 3.45 pm the turnout reached 54.64 per cent, according to figures released by the Election Commission.

In the morning, the initial hour of polling saw a low turnout of only 1.11 per cent at 8 am which crossed 40 per cent at 1.15 pm.

There were long queues outside many booths in the constituency in the second half of the day, according to visuals on TV channels.

Some voters, especially women, told reporters that they waited till afternoon to go and vote in the hopes of avoiding the initial rush and long queues. "But there are long queues now," a female voter told a TV channel.

People arrived early in the morning at the 184 polling booths across the constituency, which has over 1.9 lakh voters who will cast their votes to elect a representative from among 10 candidates.

Among the 10, the key contenders are Rahul Mamkootathil (Congress-led UDF), C Krishnakumar (BJP-led NDA), and P Sarin (CPI(M)-led LDF).

The by-election was necessitated after Congress leader Shafi Parambil resigned as MLA of the constituency following his election to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara during the general elections.

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.

Of the bypolls -- for one Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats -- scheduled in the state in November, the campaigning for the Palakkad constituency witnessed several controversies.

The Palakkad constituency holds significant importance for the Congress-led UDF, not only for retaining the seat but also because their rival LDF candidate, Sarin, is the former digital media convener of the KPCC.

Sarin was expelled from the Congress after he criticised the party's decision to select state Youth Congress president Mamkootathil as its candidate for the Palakkad bypoll.