High Stakes: Early Voter Turnout in Kerala's Wayanad and Chelakkara Bypolls

In Kerala's Wayanad and Chelakkara bypolls, voter turnout surged to 20.54% and 19.08% within three hours, amid strong security and minor EVM issues. The polls were necessitated by Rahul Gandhi vacating the Wayanad seat and KRadhakrishnan's LS election win. Top contenders include Priyanka Gandhi and Navya Haridas.

Kerala witnessed brisk polling in the Wayanad Lok Sabha and Chelakkara assembly bypolls on Wednesday, with voter turnout reaching 20.54% and 19.08% after just three hours. Despite minor electronic voting machine (EVM) issues in some booths, the election process was largely incident-free.

The polls were marked by tight security arrangements, deploying over 2,500 personnel and live monitoring through extensive webcasting. These by-elections follow Rahul Gandhi vacating the Wayanad seat after his victory in both Wayanad and Rae Bareli.

The high-stakes election saw 16 candidates in Wayanad and six in Chelakkara vying for the seats, with top contenders including Congress-led UDF's Priyanka Gandhi, making her electoral debut, as well as CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri and BJP-led NDA's Navya Haridas.

(With inputs from agencies.)