BENGALURU: The polling for three Assembly seats and zilla and taluk panchayats in 15 districts of the state was held on Saturday. The elections to the remaining 15 ZPs and 86 TPs will be held on February 20 in the second phase.
As per the initial reports, of the three Assembly seats, the fiercely fought Hebbal constituency which is part of Bengaluru, recorded the lowest voter turn out of 48 percent. Devadurga in Raichur district has registered an impressive 66.6 percent of voting while Bidar 61.01 percent.
The low turn out in Hebbal could become a reason for worry to the ruling Congress as in the past it has faced electoral defeats especially in Bengaluru whenever there was a low voter turnout. But since the party had deployed all its resources to snatch the constituency from the BJP, the results could be a photo finish.
Considered as a semi-finals to the 2018 Assembly elections, these grass root level elections have become an acid test for the ruling Congress, especially for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
A victory could put to rest the dissenting voices which are being raised already within the party and the defeat could make going
forward difficult for Siddaramaiah. For BJP and JD(S) too, these panchayat elections are crucial as the results would give them an indication as to where they stand as opposition parties.
The polling was by and large peaceful with stray reports of skirmishes between workers of different parties over allegations of bogus voting, voter enticement, missing and duplicity of names in the electoral rolls and poll code violations.
Meanwhile in Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah played it safe and said the party will take collective responsibility for the poll outcome. He also claimed the Congress would win Bidar, Hebbal and Devadurga Assembly seats.
Shettar, Joshi Arrested, Freed
In Dharwad, former CM and Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar and state BJP president Prahlad Joshi were arrested and released as they tried to force their entry into the Deputy Commissioner’s office protesting the arrest of party’s ZP candidate Yogeshgowda for indulging in electoral malpractice.
Hits and Misses At Polling Booth
Deceased MLA Venkatesh Naik’s name appeared in the voter’s list in Arakera villageA teacher posted for election duty in a village in Gokak taluk in Belagavi was suspended after he was found partying in the polling booth on Friday night.
Yogeshgouda, the BJP candidate for the Hebballi ZP seat in Dharwad district, was arrested when he was holding a meeting with his followers late on Friday night. Police accused him of planning to distribute money
An Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)was destroyed in Ganganahalli village in Chikkaballapur taluk after a fight broke between Congress and JD(S) members over the name of one Kalavati missing from the voters list. Voting resumed with a new EVM after sometime.
Voters of five villages in Gudibande taluk Beechaganahalli Zilla Panchayat seat boycotted elections for the polling booth being set up in a far away village. Later they were persuaded and brought to the polling booth in government vehicles to vote.
Voting was stopped for sometime following a rumour of the suicide of a candidate in Bhoomashettihalli in Chintamani taluk.
A Kerala registered car was seized by the police at Maddur check-post and `2.5 lakh cash was recovered from it. One Mathew Haji has been arrested.
Polling was boycotted in Jigalur village in Ron taluk in Gadag district for absence of polling booth in the village.
Polling went well beyond 5 pm as around 300 voters were in the queue to vote in a Uttara Kannada village.