NEW DELHI: The India's neighbouring island nation, Sri Lanka is voting in the presidential election to choose the country's 10th President. 

The new president would face the task of bolstering the country's economic recovery following its financial crisis.

Over 13,000 polling stations were set up across the country and 250,000 public officials were deployed to manage the election, R.M.L. Rathnayake, the head of Sri Lanka's election commission, told the news agency Reuters.

This time, the top candidates for the president's post are- current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), and Marxist-leaning challenger Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), who led in one recent opinion poll.

This is the first election since Sri Lanka's economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving the Indian Ocean island nation unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas.