THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the heavy downpour across the state except Kasaragod, the polling to five assembly constituencies in Kerala began in the morning.
Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta have been witnessing inclement weather right from the morning forcing the voters to stay indoors at least till the rain subsides.
The polling began at 7 am after the customary mock polling in the presence of polling agents and officials.
However, a queue similar to that of a normal polling is yet to take shape in majority of the polling booths in Vattiyoorkavu, Konni, Aroor and Ernakulam constituencies.
However, the rain is staying away in Manjeswaram constituency where the candidates of three major political parties cast their votes in the morning.
The power outages associated with the inclement weather disrupted the normal polling process in many booths in Aroor and Ernakulam constituencies. The 64 number booth setup at Sree Narayana School was shifted to another building nearby due to heavy rain.
The Fire and Rescue Force has informed that they would provide assistance to the voters who come to exercise their franchise in booths affected by the stormwater.
As many as 9.57 lakhs voters are exercising their franchise in the bypoll being held to the five assembly constituencies. The authorities have set up 896 booths for polling. In the initial hour of the polling, there is no significant turnout was recorded.
The Met officials have sounded orange alert in six districts in the state including Vattiyoorkavu and Ernakulam and yellow alert in another six districts including Aroor and Konni. The state administration has declared holiday in four districts in the view of the forecast of heavy downpour which will be strengthened in the afternoon session.