Polling began on a brisk note in Kerala this morning, where bypolls are taking place in the Wayanad Lok Sabha and Chelakkara reserved constituencies.

Large number of voters were seen queuing up to exercise their franchise in several booths in both the constituencies, much before polling began.

The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing a high profile contest, with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi making her electoral debut under the UDF banner. She is being challenged by Sathyan Mokeri of the LDF and Navya Haridas of the NDA.

16 candidates are in the fray in Wayanad, which has 14,71,742 voters.

The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Rahul Gandhi, who chose to represent Rae Bareli, after he won from both Wayanad and Rae Bareli in the last general election.

In the Chelakkara reserved assembly constituency, which has over 2.13 lakh voters, six candidates are seeking people’s mandate. The main contest is between UR Pradeep of the LDF, Remya Haridas of the UDF and K Balakrishnan of the NDA.