Counting begins for Aruvikkara by-poll; UDF candidate leading

Counting for the June 27 Aruvikkara Assembly bypoll, where Kerala's ruling Congress-led UDF and opposition CPI(M)-headed LDF are locked in a stiff contest, was underway today with initial trends showing that the Congress candidate is leading.

Though 16 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is between K S Sabrinathan (Congress) of ruling UDF, M Vijayakumar (CPI-M) of LDF Opposition and O Rajgopal of BJP.

UDF candidate Sabarinathan is leading by over 6300 votes over his nearest rival Vijayakumar as per the latest trend.

An estimated 77.35% voters had exercised their votes out of the total electorate of 1,84,210 on Saturday last.