Mangaluru: Voting began across Karnataka on Saturday to elect its 15th legislative assembly amid tight security and heightened vigil. The voter turnout in Dakshina Kannada district recorded as of 11 am was 24.79 per cent.
People in huge numbers were seen queued outside the booths to cast their votes on early Saturday morning. Standing out among the crowd of people at St Lawrence school polling booth in Bondel was a bride dressed in her wedding gown. Setting an example for the otherwise lazy non-voters, Viola Fernandes arrived at the booth to cast her vote before departing for her wedding venue at Belthangady.
Minister for food and Civil Supplies UT Khader, MP Nalin Kumar, Mangaluru South candidates – Congress MLA JR Lobo, Independent candidate Srikar Prabhu, BJP candidate Vedavyas Kamath were among the legislators who cast their franchisee at their respective polling stations on Saturday morning.
Speaking to presspersons after casting his franchise at the booth set in St Sebastian School in Bendorwell, JR Lobo said that he was happy to see the huge turnout and was confident that he would emerge victorious in his constituency. Casting vote is a fundamental responsibilty, he added.
“It is a pro-BJP wave,” said MP Kateel after casting his vote at St Aloysius School, Maryhill. He added that people are enthusiastic to cast their vote and alleged that Congress is resorting to fraudulent means to gain votes.
BJP candidate Vedavyas Kamath, speaking to mediapersons after casting his vote at Ganapathi High School, Car Street too exuded confidence about his win.
In Bengaluru:
Denizens of Bengaluru were seen lined up outside polling booths from 6.30 a.m. to beat the rush in casting their ballots as voting began at 7 a.m.
Polling in Bengaluru’s Raja Rajeshwari (RR) Nagar segment has been postponed to May 28 following the voter ID cards case and countermanded in the city’s Jayanagar seat following the death of BJP contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4. In all, voting is being conducted across 26 of the 28 constituencies in the city.
During the initial hour of voting, there were reports of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) malfunctioning in some booths; power crisis in a polling station in Rajajinagar seat; voters names missing at few booths and women clad in burqa made to reveal their faces at a Belagavi polling booth — that led to a few hiccups.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Chief Ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa was among the first to cast his vote in Shikaripura segment in Shivamogga district of Malnad region.
The state has over 5.06-crore electorate, including 2.56-crore men, 2.5-crore women and over 5,000 who identify themselves as the third gender.
A total of 15.42 lakh voters, aged 18-19, have registered to cast their ballot for the first time.
Voting is being held in 58,008 polling stations of 30 districts across the state, with 600 of them as pink booths, manned by all-women personnel, and 28 ethnic booths.
Over 1.5 lakh personnel have been stationed across the state for the election, with paramilitary forces from 585 state and central companies at 20,826 polling booths, including 12,001 critical booths.
Voting will continue till 6 p.m. and votes will be counted on May 15.
