E-Paper
Brisk polling in Karnataka
Polling for the first phase of LS and assembly elections in Karnataka began on April 20 on a brisk note, with hundreds queuing up at booths.
Polling in the first phase of Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Karnataka began on Tuesday on a brisk note, with hundreds of voters queuing up early at polling booths.
A quick round of select polling booths in and around the high-tech city showed that polling started earnestly at 7 a.m. and picked up over the next two hours.
A large number of people chose to vote early in the day to beat the summer heat and avoid long queues.
State electoral office sources told IANS that around 15-20 percent voting had taken place within the first three hours of polling.
"The deployment of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in all the polling booths for the first time has not only made voting faster but also attracted a huge number of voters early as everyone is either curious or eager to go through the thrilling exercise of pressing the blue button twice - one for the assembly seat and the other for the parliamentary seat," an official said at a polling booth in the suburbs.
During the first phase, polling is taking place in 15 parliamentary and 120 assembly constituencies spread over 15 districts.
A total of 92 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha polls and about 900 candidates for the state assembly elections.
"Polling is taking place in all the 23,092 booths spread over 15 districts. Of these, 5,800 have been identified as highly sensitive booths and 6,849 booths as sensitive.
Each booth is manned by six personnel.
"We have deployed in all 42,937 police personnel in addition to 120 platoons of the Karnataka Reserve Police Force, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force," state chief electoral officer Abhijit Dasgupta said here.
Among the prominent candidates in the Lok Sabha contest are former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda from the Kanakapura constituency, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Ananth Kumar from Bangalore South, state Congress leader CK Jaffer Sharief from Bangalore North, federal Minister of State for Railways BR Patil from Yatnal and KC Kondaiah from Bellary.
Ramchandra Veerappa, a 96-year-old BJP candidate, is also in the fray in the reserved Bidar parliamentary constituency.
Among the prominent leaders contesting the assembly elections are state Chief Minister SM Krishna from the Chamarajpet constituency in Bangalore, state Home Minister Mallikarjun Kharge from Gurmitkal and state Public Works Department Minister Dharma Singh from Jewargi in Gulbarga district.
Of the 15 parliamentary seats that are being contested today, 10 were held in the 13th Lok Sabha by the Congress, four by the BJP and one by the Janata Dal-United.
