BENGALURU: Amid ‘cash for vote’ allegations the bypolls to Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies went off peacefully on Thursday. Bagalkot recorded a tentative voting percentage of 68.74% and Davanagere South 68.43%.
The counting of votes will take place on May 4.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has filed a FIR taking note of a video of ‘cash for vote’ episode in Bagalkot that went viral on social media.
The BJP candidate Veeranna Charantimath alleged that the Congress has distributed money running into crores of rupees. He, however, exuded confidence of defeating the Congress candidate Umesh Meti, the son of the late HY Meti.
Bagalkot witnessed good polling from the beginning- it registered 11.87% at 9 am and 65.68 % at 5 pm compared to Davanagere South that witnessed 9.01% and 63.04% respectively.
The women who had outnumbered the men in terms of the electoral population reportedly showed enthusiasm in both seats. During the 2023 general elections Bagalkot (69.46%) and Davanagere South (69.48%) had reported a similar trend.
Given the high stakes, factors such as intense campaigning, alleged inducements the parties offered to a section of voters, this time the overall polling percentage is likely to be significant, according to reports.
In Davanagere South, the polling was sluggish initially, especially in the 67 polling stations with a dominant Muslim population. It was attributed to the predicament of a section of Muslims as about 13 candidates from their community were in the fray with two of them, SDPI’s Afsar Kodlipete and an independent, Khader Adil
Pasha, showing promise to give a fight to the Congress candidate Samarth Shamanuru and the BJP’s Srinivas T Dasakariyappa.
In the evening the message was rung out of a mosque near Millat College at Azad Nagar that the community’s electorates should go out and vote.
Congress and SDPI cadres clashed near polling stations at ward no.4 of Mehboob Nagara Main Road. The police brought the situation under control.
As the stakes were high for the ruling Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had campaigned extensively and devoted more time to Bagalkot as it was the seat that fell vacant following the death of a Kuruba leader, HY Meti.
The BJP, too, went all out with its state president BY Vijayendra and his father and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa hitting the campaign trail besides the party’s bigwigs including Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, LoPs R Ashoka and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy among others.