KALPETTA: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. Priyanka Gandhi accompanied Rahul to the collectorate.

Gandhi, accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi and senior Congress leaders including K C Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, submitted the papers before the district Collector A R Ajayakumar at the district headquarters here.

Heavy security was in place in and around the Collectorate ahead of the high profile visit of the Congress chief.

Earlier, Gandhi, Priyanka and other leaders, reached by a special helicopter that landed in a nearby school ground. Braving the scorching heat, thousands of party workers including women and youth gathered waving party flags and raising slogans.

Tight security is in place in Wayanad t in view of the Gandhi siblings visit.

Hundreds of activists were there to receive Rahul. He moved to the collectorate in an open jeep. The area was under tight security in the wake of Maoists warning to retaliate for Vaithiri firing. Kalpetta was under the control of SPG. There was tight security in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka begin roadshow in an open vehicle after filing of nominations. Rahul is contesting from the seat in Wayanad in addition to his traditional stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

He reached Wayanad this morning in a helicopter from Kozhikode, where he was staying at a guest house after arriving on Wednesday.

Rahul and his sister were greeted by a huge crowd here and is holding a roadshow before filing his papers.

Rahul will also meet office bearers of the Congress and parties in the UDF later.

While leaving the guest house in Kozhikode, the Congress chief was greeted by a huge crowd.

He stopped his car and stepped out to greet party workers, who were standing there for hours.

Three-year-old Zoya, who was among the people waiting to get a glimpse of the Gandhi siblings, was greeted by Rahul.

"We were waiting since 8 am. Last night also we waited so long, but couldn't meet him. We are so happy that we could meet him," Zoya's mother told reporters.

Rahul also shook hands with some party workers before he moved on.