Despite rain, good show by voters in Kerala bypolls

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 21 (IANS) All three political fronts in Kerala heaved a sigh of relief, when they saw voters turning up on Monday morning, despite rains, for the five Assembly constituencies elections.A total of 9,57,509 voters, including 4,91,455 women, 4,66,047 men and seven transgenders, will decide the fate of 35 candidates by casting their votes at 846 polling stations in Vatiyoorkavu, Aroor, Konni, Ernakulam and Manjeswaram.Polling which began at 7 a.m. will go on till 6.30 p.m.Barring Manjeswaram, there was moderate to heavy rain in the other four constituencies.Barring Aroor, the other four seats are held by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) at present.While the bypoll to Manjeswaram constituency was necessitated by the death of UDF legislator P.B. Abdul Razack, the four other constituencies were vacated after their legislators won the Lok Sabha polls.
--IANS sg/in