Thiruvananthapuram, April 9 (IANS): Kerala, which has 20 parliamentary constituencies, is geared up to vote Thursday.

The campaigning ended Tuesday evening.

All arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of the poll that will begin at 7 a.m. and will ends at 6 p.m., Chief Electoral Officer Nalini Netto said Wednesday.

A 24 million strong electorate gets to select from 242 male candidates and 27 female candidates, vying for the 20 seats.

The battle is principally between traditional rivals, the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

Netto said that besides the police force, 55 companies of security officials drawn from outside the state have been deployed.

"We have categorised 10 percent of the total polling booths 21,424 as critical booths and most of them are in the districts of Kannur, Kozhikode and Kasargode," said Netto.

"The entire poll exercise will be conducted by 105,049 officials at 21,424 polling stations," said Netto.