Polling began on a brisk note amidst tight security in Madurai Central assembly constituency where the by-election is being held on Wednesday to fill the vacancy created by the demise of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam minister P T R Palanivelrajan.

Long queues of voters were witnessed in most of the polling stations as voting began at 7 am.

A three tier-security has been enforced for the peaceful conduct of the by-poll, with over 3000 security personnel deployed in the urban constituency, which has 154 polling booths spread over 42 polling stations.

Security has been tightened in the aftermath of several incidents of violence reported in the constituency in the run-up to the poll.

As many as 94 percent of the total 1.32 lakh voters, have been issued photo identity cards.

Those not having the cards are being allowed to vote by producing other official documents, official sources said.

Nineteen candidates are in the fray in the constituency and the main contest is between DMK's Ghouse Basha and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Rajan Chellappa.