BENGALURU: Weeks of hectic campaigning for the bypolls to three parliamentary and two Assembly polls came to an end on Thursday with parties making the last mile push to woo voters ahead of the November 3 bypolls. With 48 hours to polling day, candidates flanked by party leaders held day-long rallies and campaigns along with last press conference to attack each other and appeal for votes.
BJP’s Sriramulu and Congress’ D K Shivakumar addressed press conferences in Ballari while Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah addressed the press in Jamkhandi. Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda concluded his party’s campaign in Mandya with a press conference where he appealed to workers to set their differences aside just like he and Siddaramaiah had.
Curtains came down on the election campaign with a dramatic twist for the BJP in Ramanagara where its candidate L Chandrasekhar jumped shops to Congress and withdrew from the contest. Despite being the puppeteer of the entire coup, Shivakumar maintained that he was unaware of Chandrasekhar’s decision and continued the last leg of campaigning for V S Urgrappa in Ballari. Despite a clear path to unopposed victory for JDS’ Anitha Kumaraswamy, Chandrasekhar will continue to be the BJP’s official candidate in Ramanagara.
While the coalition’s common candidates are poised for a certain victory in Mandya and Ramanagara, a neck-and-neck fight is expected in Shivamogga, Ballari and Jamkhandi seats. Despite the shock his party received early on Thursday morning, BJP president B S Yeddyurappa continued his campaign in Shivamogga while attacking the Congress for “buying out his candidate”. Leaders cutting across party lines made their final appeals, including caste appeasement, to woo voters in an election where voter turnout is expected to be low with disinterest writ large in at least four of the five seats.