Karnataka bypolls: Low turnout seen in all five constituencies till 3 pm; BJP alleges election code violation in Ramanagara

Bengaluru: Polling in Karnataka took place on Saturday for three Lok Sabha constituencies — Shivamogga, Mandya and Ramanagara — and two Assembly constituencies — Ballari and Jamkhandi — at a sedate pace. With it being a Saturday, and a working day for offices, banks, PSUs and colleges, polling across all designated centres did not cross more than 30 percent till 1 pm.

There were several instances across constituencies where office-goers took permission from their superiors to cast their vote. Additionally, with Deepavali around the corner, some people had left their native places to visit their friends and family.

There has also been some criticism over the counting date, which has been scheduled on the second day of Deepavali on 6 November.

The by-elections have been scheduled due to three resignations — those of Shivamogga MP BS Yeddyurappa, and Ballari MP Sriramulu, both BJP members, and Mandya’s CS Puttaraju, of JD(S), as they had contested elections to the state legislature earlier in 2018. Moreover, Siddunyame Gowda, Jamkhandi MLA, had died in a car crash, while Ramanagara MLA and present chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had resigned after winning Chennapatna constituency.

In Ramanagara, Kumarswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy is contesting elections, while in Jamkhandi, Siddunyame Gowda’s son Anand Nyamegowda is contesting as a Congress candidate.

In Shivamogga, another battle is taking place between the sons of two former chief ministers — Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra, is a BJP candidate, while Sarekoppa Bangarappa’s son, Madhu Bangarappa, is the Congress-JD(S) alliance candidate.

In the Vokkaliga community stronghold of Mandya, CS Puttaraju had resigned as an MP after he contested and won the Mandya Assembly seat.

In the Vijaynagar area of Ramanagara, polling was stopped due to technical issues for more than 30 minutes, around 12 pm, in booth number 54. The officials fixed the problem by switching the faulty polling machinery to fresh ones.

Earlier, in a jolt to the BJP, L Chandrashekar , who was slated to contest on the party’s symbol, withdrew his candidature just a day before the polling. To make matters worse for the BJP, just hours before polling began in Ramanagara, Chandrashekhar cancelled his polling agent’s authorisation, leaving the BJP workers incapable of visiting any of the 227 polling stations in the constituency.

By 3 pm, on an average, polling reached just 35 percent across all five constituencies. The lowest was recorded in Malvalli, Mandya, at just 22 percent.

Though the election code of conduct was enforced, JD(S) leaders like E Krishnappa and Anitha Kumaraswamy (MLA candidate) were seen visiting polling booths in Ramanagara. However, they desisted from making any comments. The code of conduct prohibits candidates from visiting voting booths, except to cast their votes.

BJP workers have opposed this move, and have reported it to the deputy commissioners of their respective constituencies.

In Mandya, known as Karnataka’s sugar bowl, sugarcane farmers have boycotted the elections in protest against the government failing to ensure continuous supply of their sugarcane to the NSL factory in Maddur. However, the superintendent of police and the assistant commissioner of Maddur sub-division, appealed to them to cast their votes.

Thirty-one candidates were in the fray across the five constituencies. The number of eligible voters was recorded at 54,54,275, while there were a total of 6,450 polling stations across these constituencies.

With inputs from Team 101Reporters

(The author is a Karnataka-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com )