71.9 per cent polling in Vengara bypoll, counting on Sunday

Malappuram: About 71.9 per cent of the total 1.7 lakh electorate today cast their votes in the bypoll to the Vengara assembly constituency in Malappuram district, collectorate sources said.

Malappuram district collector Amit Meena said, polling was incident free.

"There were some initial hiccups reported in the functioning of the machines from some places. They were immediately replaced," the collector said.

Of the total electorate, 87,750 are men and 82,259 women, the sources said.

They said 148 polling stations had been set up, besides 17 auxiliary booths in 90 places in the constituecy.

Polling was held between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm., in which 236 VVPAT machines were used, they said.

Counting of votes will be held on October 15.

Six candidates, including K N A Khader of the IUML, P P Basheer of CPI-M, K Janachandran (BJP) and K C Naseer of the SDPI, are in the fray.

The bypoll was necessitated after IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty vacated the seat to successfully contest the Malappuram Lok Sabha segment.