Voting for the high-stakes bypoll in Haryana's Jind assembly constituency began early on Monday with necessary arrangements put in place for smooth and peaceful conduct of polling.

The voting began at 7 am and will close at 5pm.

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, one of the 21 candidates, offered prayers at Somnath temple in the town as voting was underway. Surjewala is the party's sitting MLA from Kaithal.

The constituency is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with prestige at stake for key political outfits, including the ruling BJP and the opposition INLD, Congress and the fledgeling JJP, formed by Lok Sabha MP Dushyant Chautala after split in INLD.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Indian National Lok Dal legislator Hari Chand Middha in August last year. His son Krishan Middha is contesting on a BJP ticket.

Other candidates include INLD's Umed Singh Redhu, Digvijay Singh Chautala and Vinod Arshi - respective candidates of two newly formed political outfits Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) of BJP's rebel MP Raj Kumar Saini.

Notably, Surjewala, Redhu and Digvijay are all Jats while Middha belongs to the Punjabi community.

As many as 48,000 voters out of the total 1,71,113 eligible to vote belong to the Jat community while the remaining belong to Brahmin, Punjabi and other communities.

Arshi, a Brahmin leader from Jind, could also play spoilsport in the multi-cornered contest.

Earlier, the high-decibel canvassing exercise, which came to an end on Saturday evening, was dominated by barbs, charges and  counter charges  as  arch rivals  BJP, Congress, INLD and JJP are eyeing the results as a self-assessment exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls this year.

As many as 1,71,113 people, including nearly 80,000 women, are eligible to vote, officials said, adding 158 polling stations have been set up, of which 67 are in rural areas.

A senior police official said on Sunday that nearly 3,000 policemen have been put on duty for security arrangements to ensure smooth and peaceful conduct of polling.

He said the Jind assembly segment has been divided into 24 sectors, with six deputy superintendents of police being made in-charge to oversee security arrangements. Counting of votes will take place on January 31.