Kochi, Jan 9 (IANS): Voting to find the new supreme head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church got underway here on Tuesday.

According to the rules laid down by the Vatican, no candidate will file a nomination. Instead the electoral colleges consisting of 53 Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church can drop their secret ballot into the box with the name of any of the 53 Bishops or even a Catholic priest as the next supreme head.

Once the ballots are counted, the winner will be the candidate who secures two-third of the votes.

In case, if none gets it, then there will be the next round of elections and if until the completion of the fifth round no one gets two-third of the votes, then there will be two more rounds and whosoever gets the maximum votes in the last two rounds will be declared elected as the next Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala.

The election to find a new supreme head is taking place after incumbent Cardinal George Alencherry expressed his desire to step down to the Pope and his request was accepted.

Christians in Kerala make up around 18 per cent of the state's 32 million population, of which Catholics are the dominant group, comprising 50 per cent of the Christians in the state.