BENGALURU: Sealing the fate of political parties, Karnataka completed voting for Lok Sabha polls 2019 on Tuesday. At 9 pm, the 14 constituencies that went to polls in North and Central Karnataka recorded a healthy 68.15 per cent turnout in Phase III voting. While the final turnout figures are yet to be officially announced, the latest figures combined with Phase II turnout of 68.80 per cent, shows that the State may have just managed to better its 2014 tally. In the previous Lok Sabha polls, Karnataka had registered a total of 67.20 per cent voter turnout. The results will be out on May 23.
The BJP, that has a considerable presence in the region, aims to improve its tally, banking on the “Modi wave” and the support of the dominant Lingayat community, considered its vote base. For the Congress-JD(S) alliance, it is a high-stakes battle as their performance is likely to have a bearing on the coalition government in the state. While the Congress currently has its hold on only four of the 14 seats that went to the polls, BJP has its sitting MPs in 10 seats.
High-intensity battles coupled with local waves in seats like Shimoga, Dharwad, Bellary and Uttara Kannada seem to have managed to lure voters into polling booths pushing the voter turnout up by at least 4 per cent more than in 2014.
With a voter turnout of 76.43 per cent, Shimoga that is witnessing a battle between Madhu Bangarappa of JDS and State B Y Raghavendra of BJP -- sons of two former Chief Ministers who faced off even in the 2018 bypolls --- recorded the highest voter turnout. Compared to 2014, the turnout has improved by 4 per cent in the seat that is a battle of prestige to BJP State president and Lingayat strongman B S Yeddyurappa.
While Chikkodi maintained its streak of high voter turnout with 75.42%, Uttara Kannada saw the highest improvement in polling percentage when compared to 2014 polls. Uttara Kannada, where BJP’s Ananth Kumar Hegde is taking on JDS’ Anand Asnotikar, saw an upward swing in voter turnout by 5%.
“The improvement in voter turnout could be credited to a steep rise in polling in seats like Mandya, Dakshina Kannada in phase II and Shimoga in Phase III. The fight in these seats in quite intense,” said Narayana A, political analyst and researcher, Azim Premji University. He pointed out that if the coalition has worked well, it was only in Shimoga. Considering that most seats that went to polls today were rural, voters have managed to maintain higher polling.
‘Gulbarga records highest number of VVPAT malfunction’
“Rural voters are far more dependent on elected representatives than urban voters. Their connect with the representative in personal,” Narayana added drawing a comparison to dip in turnout in Bangalore seats. Gulbarga, which witnessed the mother of all battles, where veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge is pitted against Umesh Jadhav of BJP, polled the second least with just 59.70 per cent. For Kharge, who has never tasted electoral defeat, this poll is said to be a tough battle against Jadhav, who quit as rebel Congress MLA and joined BJP. Incidentally, Gulbarga recorded the highest number of VVPAT machine malfunction. “The highest number of malfunctions were reported from Gulbarga due to the soaring temperatures.
Karnataka has the record for the lowest number of Ballot unit and Control unit replacements but the highest for VVPAT unit replacements,” said Sanjiv Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday evening after polling ended.In Belgaum, where Congress is hit by dissidence with rebel MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi hinting at quitting the grand old party, 67.24 polling was registered.
Bellary, the constituency that BJP is desperately trying to wrest from the Congress, recorded a voter turnout of 69.62 per cent. While voter turnout in most seats has remained constant, a spike in select seats contributing to an overall increase of the turnout, analysts believe, does not point to a wave. “There could be a general wave in seats like Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada but local factors, personal battles are the cause in all other seats that have shown an increase in voter turnout,” Narayana pointed out.
While EVM malfunction, protests threatening boycott marked the day when half of Karnataka polled, one EVM machine in polling station 31 of Shorapur in Raichur constituency was deemed damaged. An FIR was filed but a decision on repolling is pending. “Eight people have lost their lives during polling in both phases,” Sanjiv Kumar said.