Kottayam: The voting for the Puthuppally Assembly constituency bypoll that began here at 7 am has ended. As per the latest reports, 72.91% polling was recorded at Puthuppally.

According to official data, 1,28,624 of the 1,76,412 registered voters cast their ballots in Puthuppally. Of the total, 64,084 were male, 64,538 were female and two were transgender voters.

A huge number of voters lined up outside polling booths in the constituency to cast their ballot since morning.

While the Left hopes to breach the Congress fortress for 53 years, the latter expects to secure an easy win riding on the 'anti-incumbency' wave in the state and late Oommen Chandy's legacy.

The bypoll was necessitated on account of the death of former Kerala Chief Minister and Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy in July this year. The by-election was announced less than a month after his demise.

Candidates

The Congress-led UDF opposition has fielded Chandy's son, Chandy Oommen, in an apparent strategy to bank on the sympathy wave following the former CM's death.

On the other hand, the ruling Left once again decided to go with DYFI leader Jaick C Thomas who had unsuccessfully contested from the segment in 2016 and 2021 against the late Chandy.

The BJP has fielded its Kottayam district president G Lijinlal. Besides these, four other candidates -- one from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and three independent contestants -- are also in the fray.

LDF candidate Jaick C Thomas expressed confidence in winning the election and accused the UDF of steering clear of the development debate during the poll campaign. He cast his vote at the Manarcadu LP School on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, UDF candidate Chandy Oommen said that people will decide the fate of Puthuppally.

"The Left government thwarted the development in Puthuppally," Chandy Oommen said while responding to Jaick's allegations. He cast his vote at the Georgian Public School at Puthuppally.  

Four sensitive booths

Around 1.75 lakh registered voters will cast their votes in 182 polling stations in the constituency.

The ruling bloc's current tally is 99 in the 140-member Kerala Assembly, while the opposition UDF has 41 members.

On the eve of the election, Kottayam District Collector V Vigneshwari and Police Chief K Karthik said that all the arrangements for the bypoll were complete.

Booth numbers 91, 92, 93, and 94 established at the Central Lower Primar School, Velloor, falling under the Pampady police station limits have been identified as sensitive booths. An additional civil police officer will be deployed for security in addition to the usual number at these four booths.

A public holiday has been declared for government, semi-government, educational and commercial establishments in Puthuppally constituency today.

Traffic curbs
Only vehicles deployed for election duty will be allowed on the polling day on the stretch of the KK Road between the Traffic Island near the Kottayam Collectorate and the Traffic Island before Malayala Manorama.

Vehicles arriving from the KK Road-Kanjikuzhy side should take a turn from the Collectorate Junction to enter Logos Junction-Shastri Road and proceed further. Vehicles going towards the collectorate from the Manorama direction should turn from Manorama Junction to Good Shepherd Road-Logos junction.

Prohibitory orders in place
Prohibitory orders have been imposed in the Puthuppally constituency effective from Sunday (September 3) at 6 pm to Tuesday (September 4) at 6 pm.

Gathering of people and holding of rallies and public meetings in connection with the by-election have been prohibited.

Counting of votes on Friday
The counting of votes will begin at 8 am on September 8 at the facility arranged in the auditorium of Baselius College, Kottayam. There are a total of 20 tables for the counting.

The votes from Electronic Voting Machines will be counted on 14 tables, while five tables will tally postal ballots and one table will be for counting Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) votes for service personnel.

There will be 13 rounds of counting.

A 44-member Armed Police contingent has been deployed to ensure the counting centre’s security.