New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS): Polling for the bypolls to the five municipal wards in Delhi began on Sunday morning amid tight security.

The voting began at 7:30 am and it will go on till 5:30 pm, election officials said.

A total of 26 candidates from AAP, BJP, Congress and others are in the fray.

The State Election Commission of Delhi said that around 2.42 lakh people comprising the five municipal wards are eligible to exercise their franchise

The officials have set up 327 polling stations in all the five municipal wards -- Rohini-C, Shalimar Bagh (North), Trilokpuri, Kalyanpuri and Chauhan Banger.

They said that the Shalimar Bagh is reserved for women, whereas Trilokpuri and Kalyanpuri are reserved for the SC category, however, Covid patients can cast their votes during the last hour of the polling.

The main candidates in the Kalyanpuri ward are Dhirendra from the AAP, Siyaram Kanojia from the BJP and Dharampal Maurya from the Congress.

In Trilokpuri ward, the candidates are Vijay Kumar (AAP), Om Prakash Gugarwal (BJP) and Bal Kishan (Congress).

In Chauhan Banger, former AAP MLA Haji Ishraq Khan is pitted against Congress' Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad and BJP's Nazir Ansari.

Similarly, in Shalimar Bagh, the contest will be between the BJPs' Surbhi Jaju, AAP's Sunita Mishra and Congress' Mamta.

The BJP had retained all three corporations in the 2017 civic polls with the AAP finishing a distant second.

The results of the bypolls will be announced on March 3.