Polling begins in Vengara assembly by-election

Malappuram, Kerala, Oct 11: Polling began in the by-election for the Vengara Assembly seat, the first after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) assumed office in the state on a peaceful note at 0700 hrs, today. The main contenders in the fray are Indian Union Muslim League's K N A Khader (UDF) and P P Basheer of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF). Bharatiya Janata Party which has influence in certain pockets has fielded K Janachandran Master while the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of defunct National Democratic Front (NDF) announced candidature of K C Naseer. Besides, two independents were also in the fray. Altogether there are 170,009 voters out of which 87,750 are men and 82,259 are women in the stronghold of the Indian Union Muslim League, second largest constituent in the Congress led opposition United Democratic Front (UDF). There are 165 polling stations in the assembly segments and for the first time, the Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) was linked with Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) ... The assembly segment elected IUML candidates only since the formation of the constituency following delimitation in 2011. The counting would be held on October 15. The by-poll was necessitated following election of IUML National General Secretary P K Kunhalikutty from Malappuram Lok Sabha seat. In 2016, Kunhalikutty won the seat with an impressive margin of 38,057 votes against Basheer, the CPI (M) nominee, who polled 34,124 whereas the BJP candidate P T Ali Haji walked away with 7,055 votes. UNI