BENGALURU: The by-election to elect a councillor for Binnypet ward was marred by an incident of violence as Congress and JD(S) workers reportedly clashed at a booth on Monday. Father of JD(S) candidate Aishwarya BN, Nagaraj was accused of attacking Congress worker Sudhakar. Nagaraj had allegedly assaulted Sudhakar for bribing voters. Supporters of both the parties clashed at booth number 155. However, no police action was reported.
The by-election was necessitated after former two-time councillor of the ward Mahadevamma passed away on January 23 due to a cardiac arrest. While Mahadevamma was from the Congress, her daughter Aishwarya BN is contesting the bypoll on a JD(S) ticket. She is facing BJP candidate Chamundeshwari G and Congress candidate Srividya Shashikumar.
The elections were held at 37 polling booths between 7 am and 5 pm and saw a turnout of 43.54%. A total of 34,572 people were eligible to vote. The ward is reserved for General (woman) category. As per a press release issued by the state election commission earlier this week, the counting of votes will take place on Wednesday at Home Science College. Monday was declared a holiday for the institutions, departments and industries within the ward.
In numbers
37 polling booths
Voting turnout of 43.54%
34,572 people were eligible to vote