About 52 to 55 per cent of the total voters of Bangalore Rural and Mandya Lok Sabha constituencies exercised their franchise in the incident-free byelections which were held on Wednesday.
Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha said that the polling has been by and large peaceful in both the constituencies. He said there were reports of electronic voting machines malfunctioning in about 10 polling stations.
While polling was brisk in Magadi, Kanakapura, Channapatna and Ramanagaram Assembly segments in Bangalore Rural seat, Kunigal, K R Pet, Mandya and Nagamangala Assembly segments in the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency witnessed heavy voter turnout. The voting, which began on a dull note, picked up pace by afternoon. Mandya Lok Sabha seat reported 42.5 per cent polling by 4 pm, and for Bangalore Lok Sabha constituency, it stood at 38.5 per cent.
The election process began at 8 am with heavy security across the two segments. Over 35 lakh voters were eligible to vote in this byelection spread over about 4,600 polling stations.
The counting of votes will be taken up on Saturday. The byelections were necessitated due to the resignation of JD(S) members Cheluvaraswamy and H D Kumaraswamy after they were elected to the Legislative Assembly.
The Congress and JD(S) are involved in an intense fight for supremacy though the tenure of the current Lok Sabha will end in the next eight months.
The BJP did not field its candidate following its electoral understanding with the JD(S).