Voters queue up at a polling station in Kerala’s Aruvikkara assembly constituency for a crucial by-election yesterday.IANS/ThiruvananthapuramDespite heavy rains, some 76% of the 184,210 electorate voted yesterday in the Kerala assembly by-election in Aruvikara which saw a triangular contest involving the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The election followed the death of assembly speaker G Karthikeyan in March. He had represented the constituency for 24 years.There were a total of 16 candidates in the race and 184,210 voters - up from 164,884 in 2011 when Karthikeyan won by over 10,000 votes and which saw a 70% turnout.The ruling Congress fielded Karthikeyan’s 31-year-old son K A Sabarinathan while the CPM nominated 67-year-old former speaker and minister M Vijayakumar.The BJP put up its regular warhorse, O Rajagopal, 85.Yesterday evening, all three candidates expressed confidence they would win the election.Sabarinathan, who early in the day called the Aruvikara electorate his “extended family”, said the huge voter turnout looked “very promising” for him and that he would win by a handsome margin.Vijayakumar said the electorate was waiting to teach a lesson to the Oommen Chandy government and described the heavy turnout as an expression of people’s aversion to the current administration.Rajagopal said the people of Kerala were sick and tired of the two main political fronts headed by the Congress and the CPM and they would “definitely vote for a change”.The voting went off peacefully.Yesterday, the photos of all candidates were affixed on the Electronic Voting Machines -for the first time in India to eliminate confusion among voters.The votes will be counted on June 30, and the results are sure to cast a shadow on the local body elections set for October and the assembly polls in April next year.