Kalpetta: With the Election Commission announcing the date of the Lok Sabha bypoll in Wayanad, the jubilant Congress workers kickstarted the campaign for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday evening itself. Within no time, posters and banners displaying the smiling face of Priyanka Gandhi have spread across the constituency.

A host of leaders, including Rajmohan Unnithan MP, T Siddique MLA, and IC Balakrishnan MLA, among others, got together at Kalpetta on Wednesday for an initial round of talks on the campaign strategies.

The opposition camps, both BJP and LDF, are yet to finalize the candidates. While BJP is considering Sobha Surendran, CPI is mulling fielding E S Bijimol MLA. However, it is learnt that Sobha Surendran has told the leadership about her interest in the Palakkad legislative assembly constituency.

She wants to leave behind the image of a ‘regular electoral martyr’ among the party's rank and file. In the wake of its victory in Thrissur, the BJP leadership is confident to win the Palakkad seat.

CPI district secretary EJ Babu said that the party workers have already started the campaign in the constituency. "We will try our best to bring down the majority of the Congress candidates in the election. The LDF meeting scheduled to be held on October 17 will finalise the candidate," he said.

According to BJP district president Prasanth Malavayal, BJP has started its panchayath-level meetings to prepare the party machinery for the election. A leaders' meeting will be held on October 17 and NDA meeting will be held on October 18, he added.

Wayanad is considered one of the safest constituencies for Congress in the nation. Spread over seven legislative constituencies in three districts, the constituency has been a Congress citadel since its inception in 2009.