Bengaluru: Overt campaigning ended on Wednesday. Leaders of all political parties took to the streets on the last day to win over voters. Result? Traffic jams, Traffic congestion, and in some instances voter apathy and anger.
Most arterial roads were choked as workers of various political parties hit the streets on the last day of campaigning. In Ulsoor, an ambulance was stuck in a traffic jam on Ulsoor Road as a procession was passing by. The driver had to get down from the ambulance to clear the way. Tamil voters were wooed by old film songs of MGR and South superstar Rajanikanth, remixed with names of candidates!
Autos blaring slogans and songs criss-crossed the city:
These songs were played on roving auto rickshaws in areas like Okalipuram, Seshadripuram and Shivajinagar. Songs from the 1960s and 1980s are particularly popular. Some of them are Naan Ungal Veetu Pillai (Puthiya Bhoombi) and Naan Aanayitaal (Engal veetu pillai) from movies starring MGR and Pothuvaaga enn manasu thangam (Muratta Kaalai) and Singa nadai pottu sigarathil yeru (Padayappa) from Rajinikanth’s movies.
The next 48 hours are crucial for a smooth election and police are on the alert. Police is working in close co-ordination with the BBMP and State Election Commission (SEC), as the next 48 hours would be crucial for ensuring peaceful polls. “We have deployed mobile squads and men in mufti apart from cops with hand-held cameras recording all proceedings in the next two days,” a senior police officer said. However, some BJP leaders alleged that the State government was misusing the police apparatus to curb opposition parties.
Clashes mar the last two days of campaigning:
Supporters of political parties clashed in different parts of the City on Wednesday night accusing each other of poll malpractice.
In one instance, police have arrested Chetan, Deve Gowda and Narasimha, said to be Congress workers, for allegedly assaulting the husband, and brother of Latha Ramesh, JD(S) candidate of Peenya Industrial Area ward. They suffered severe head injuries after they were assaulted with iron rods. They have been hospitalized.
While the accused were on a door-to-door campaign, they learnt that Ramesh and Gopal along with JD(S) workers were distributing sarees to woo the voters. The accused alerted fellow Congress workers, who rushed to the spot and confronted Ramesh and Gopal, husband and brother of Latha Ramesh. There was a heated argument during which the accused attacked the duo with iron rods and fled, the police said.
In another incident, BJP and Congress workers clashed on Hennur Main road. The police said that trouble broke out after BJP?workers ‘found’ some Congress workers distributing sarees to voters. The police intervened and dispersed the two groups.
A complaint was also lodged at the the Hanumanthanagar police station that the BJP?candidate of Hanumanthanagar ward, Kempe Gowda, and his supporters were distributing money to voters.
There was also tension in Chandra Layout on Thursday morning when the police searched a temple following a complaint that poll-related cash was stashed there. Local residents and BJP workers gathered in large numbers in front of the temple and questioned the police’s right to search a place of worship.
BJP Woes
In a setback to the the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign, the party’s flags and symbols will have no place for two days at the party’s headquarters after the High Court on Thursday upheld the State Election Commission’s (SEC) direction issued in this regard as the party’s State headquarters comes within the 100 metres of ‘No Canvas Zone’ from a polling station for the BBMP elections.
The party on August 14 had given a representation to the SEC for shifting the polling stations of ward 65 and 127 to be set up at a government school that is situated within 100 metres from the building housing the party’s State headquarters. After considering the petition, the SEC on August 16 had asked the BJP secretary to cover the party’s symbols connected with the building housing the headquarters, while asking the party also to remove flags from the buildings on two days (August 21 and 22) in view of the election code of conduct.
Justice Raghvendra S. Chauhan dismissed the party’s petition by holding that display of party’s flag and symbol will be against the laws pertaining to reasonable restrictions imposed on canvas by political parties for a limited period during elections.
Congress expels rebel candidates
Meanwhile the Congress on Wednesday, removed 13 rebel candidates from the primary membership for six years for anti party activities during the BBMP polls.
They are Kamala Anjan, Deepa Chandrashekhar and Ayesh Begum (Rayapuram ward), Mamatha Savarana (Halasur), Sagar Sathish (Marappanapalya), Jayalakshmi (Mahalakshmipuram), Padmaprakash (Vrishabhavathinagar), Yelumalai (Sagayapuram), Asha Karthik (Vidyapeeta), Anand (Hoysalanagar), B.N. Kumar (Nandini Layout) and Amalanath (Okalipuram).
