It was not an easy day for election officials as poll-related violence and tension prevailed in some parts of the city on Wednesday night and Thursday.
A group of men belonging to a national party allegedly molested eight women who objected to the party’s banners being put up on tables near the polling booth at Adakamaranahalli near Nelamangala. The gang allegedly gagged the women and even tried to pull at their sarees. Madanayakanahalli police rushed to the spot and arrested the accused.
In another incident, a 44-year-old drunk man caused damage to an electronic voting machine (EVM) by smashing it on the ground after voting. The incident took place at Mandigere in Nelamangala. The accused Udaykumar was arrested. Tension prevailed at the polling booth for a while. Election officers immediately rushed to the spot and provided a new machine after recovering data from the damaged one.
In another incident, supporters of former minister B N Bachche Gowda staged a protest in front of a polling booth at Subhashnagar and created a ruckus on the premises. They allegedly manhandled election personnel after ink was found spread on the candidate’s name on the EVM. The police detained some of them.Hebbagodi police arrested a BJP worker, Madhusudan Reddy, who allegedly assaulted a woman Congress worker on Wednesday night. Around 8.30 pm on Wednesday, Reddy and some party workers went campaigning at Gollahalli near Electronics City. She reportedly told Reddy that the area was under her control. The duo quarrelled over this and Reddy allegedly assaulted her in the melee. Later, she filed a complaint with Hebbagodi police.Sarjapur police arrested five men belonging to a national party, who allegedly created a fracas near a polling booth at Pandit Nagar when workers of another party were escorting an old woman to the booth. The incident took place around 10.30 am on Thursday when the accused got into a fight in front of the election officers alleging that the old woman would be misled.
Two groups clashed outside a booth at Dommasandra in Anekal on Wednesday night when some workers of a regional party served dinner to election staff. Noticing this, a group belonging to another party started a fight. The police rushed to the spot and controlled the situation.
Three Held for Distributing Sarees
Madiwala police arrested three people who allegedly tried to distribute sarees with a picture of Narendra Modi on the cover at BTM Layout on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, police nabbed Kanaram, Pemaram and Lalithram and seized sarees stocked at Padmashree Textiles in BTM Layout I Stage.