Panaji, May 19 (IANS): Voting for the Panaji assembly bypoll got underway at 7 a.m. on Sunday.

According to Chief Electoral Officer Kunal, 22,482 voters are eligible to cast ballot, of which 10,697 are male and 11,785 are female.

Also, 476 young first time voters are expected to cast ballot for the Panaji assembly election.

BJP's Sidharth Kunclaienkar takes on Atanasio Monserrate of the Congress, Valmiki Naik of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Subhash Velingkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch in the contest for the prestigious Panaji assembly seat.

The BJP has held the Panaji assembly constituency for a quarter of a century, since 1994, when later former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was first elected to the state legislative assembly.

In 2014, after Parrikar was elevated to the central cabinet as Defence Minister, his aide Sidharth Kuncalienkar was elected from Panaji twice. After his return to state politics in 2018, Parrikar was once again elected as a Panaji MLA.

The bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of Parrikar on March 17.

Goa already witnessed by-elections to three other assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies on April 23.