BALLARI: The bypolls to Ballari Lok Sabha constituency went on a peaceful note with about 64% polling recorded compared to 69.53% in 2014. This development has caused an upbeat in the Congress camp, which believes that their candidate V S Ugrappa will win by a greater margin.
The battle for Ballari began at a snail’s pace with a mere 4.4% polling recorded till 9 am. Polling booths in Ballari city witnessed a low voter turnout much to the anxiety of the BJP. BJP state vice-president B Sriramulu, who had earlier predicted a huge win for his party, said party candidate J Shantha “will win by a margin of 10,000-15,000."
Somashekar Reddy, Ballari City MLA, too was of the same opinion. “It will not be a big victory like that of Sriramulu in 2014,” he said. Sriramulu had won by a margin of more than 85,000 votes in 2014.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Nasir Hussain predicted a huge win for Ugrappa. “The voter turnout is good ... our disciplined campaign will yield good results,” he said. The polling picked up pace later in the day with a voter turnout of 24.5% recorded at 11 am. At 5 pm, the polling recorded was 56%. The voting in the rural areas was brisk compared to Ballari city.
“The mandate given by people was for five years. But for silly reasons, elections were forced upon them. People are disappointed with this. This is the prime reason for the low turnout,” said Nasir Hussain.
This trend, according to political observers, will benefit the Congress. “If there is low turnout, it is only the upper caste who give elections a miss. Normally this will give an edge to Congress,” said Sirigere Pannaraj, a political expert, and president of Hyderabad-Karnataka Horata Samithi.
Ugrappa files plaint
Ballari LS Congress candidate V S Ugrappa lodged a complaint with the election officer against a section of the electronic media for telecasting a news clip of a court ordering confiscation of his moveable properties as well as airing a press conference where a woman made a slew of allegations against him. He said the allegations were false. He appealed to the election officer to initiate appropriate action against these TV channels.