Wayanad witnesses brisk polling in bypolls; 45% turnout till noon

The EVM breakdowns were reportedly quickly addressed by the election officials.

Thiruvananthapuram: Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala after the first few hours of voting on Wednesday.

The polling percent in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency touched only 45 percent by Wednesday afternoon. The moderate progress in polling rate has triggered speculations in favour and against Congress top leader Priyanka Gandhi, who is making her electoral debut in the by-poll.

In the last general election, the polling percentage in Wayanad was at 73.5 percent. 

While a section pointed out that the massive turnout of crowd during the campaigns of Priyanka in the constituency is not reflecting in the polling till afternoon, Congress camps are of the view that the hardcore Left front voters seem to be abstaining from the polling owing to resentment, which is resulting in low polling percent. 

Local sources said that the polling could go up by afternoon. Major chunk of voters are farmers who would be engaged in work during the morning hours.

Priyanka visited many polling stations across the constituency and interacted with voters. Around 200 voters of the constituency lost lives in the recent landslides here.

In the Chelakkara assembly bypoll, the voter turnout was 14.64 and 19.08 per cent at 9.30am and 10.10 am, respectively.

People started arriving early in the morning at the 1,354 polling booths in the hill constituency of Wayanad where there are over 14 lakh registered voters, according to the Election Commission figures.

Some arrived early, while others wanted to get it over with quickly before more people started reaching the polling stations, they told reporters.

It is a holiday in Wayanad LS and Chelakkara assembly constituencies on account of the bypolls.

The Wayanad constituency comprises seven assembly segments of Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST), and Kalpetta in Wayanad district; Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district; and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.

A bypoll was necessitated in the hill constituency after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Wayanad LS seat in the general elections held earlier this year, vacated it after he also won from the Rae Bareli constituency.

There are 16 candidates in the fray for the seat with Congress-led UDF's candidate and Rahul's sister Priyanka, who is making her electoral debut, CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri and BJP-led NDA's Navya Haridas being the top contenders.

Polling in Wayanad commenced amidst tight security arrangements which included deployment of over 2,500 security personnel and live monitoring of the by-election process by an extensive webcasting system.

Voting for the Chelakkara assembly seat in Thrissur district of the state also saw people turning up early at the 177 polling stations in the constituency.

There are six candidates in the fray for the assembly seat, where a bypoll was necessitated after LDF's K Radhakrishnan -- who won from there in 2021 -- was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alathur constituency by defeating UDF's Ramya Haridas who had won from there in 2019.

Haridas is now contesting from the Chelakkara assembly seat and is pitted against LDF's U R Pradeep and NDA's K Balakrishnan.

There were close to two lakh voters in the constituency during the 2021 assembly election in the state.

Voting began in Wayanad and Chelakkara after a mock poll was carried out by casting votes in favour of all candidates, including NOTA, whose names are there on an EVM.

With PTI inputs