Malappuram: About 71 percent voting was recorded in the by-poll for Malappuram Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday with the exercise passing off peacefully.
According to the polling officials, about 71 percent polling was recorded in the constituency with around 13 lakh electorate. Counting will be held on April 17.
Click here to visit the in-depth coverage
The by-poll was necessitated following the demise of former Union minister and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader E. Ahamed.
Congress-led UDF candidate P. K. Kunhalikutty of the IUML, CPM's M.B. Faisal of ruling LDF and BJP's Sreeprakash were the main contestants in the fray.
Six independents are also trying their luck in the Muslim-dominated constituency.
Brisk polling was reported from the constituency since morning.
There were some incidents of EVM malfunctioning which was immediately rectified by the officials.
More than 1,100 polling stations were set up in the constituency, which has seven assembly constituencies and a total electorate of 13,12,693.
The high-voltage campaign had seen heated debates on beef versus development.
The UDF had launched a do-or-die battle to retain its stronghold, while the ruling LDF is hoping for an upset win.
Seeking to put the UDF camp on the back-foot, the LDF had claimed some senior Congress MPs from Kerala were likely to crossover to the BJP bandwagon.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Ahamed had won the seat by a margin of 1,94,739 votes against CPM's P.K. Sainaba.