Voting begins in by-election in Jayalalithaa's former constituency Srirangam

Chennai: Voting began Friday morning in the bye-election for the Srirangam assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu.

Polling began at 7 a.m. and will continue till 6 p.m.

A total of 322 polling booths have been set up for around 270,000 voters to elect their representatives from 29 contestants.

The assembly seat was earlier held by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and the bye-election was necessitated after she was disqualified following her conviction in a corruption case and sentenced to four years in jail.

However, the contest will be among the AIADMK, DMK, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI-M.

The ruling AIADMK has worked hard to retain the prestigious seat with several ministers and senior leaders campaigning in the constituency.

Votes will be counted Feb 16.