JOIN USEfforts by the Election Commission (EC) to add more voters to the electoral list have yielded positive results.
As many as 20.77 lakh additions have been made to the list since the EC launched the addition-deletion drive on January 28.
The additions have taken the total number of voters in the State to around 4.36 crore. In comparison, the total number of voters during the 2008 Assembly polls amounted to 4,00,77,666. Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha explained on Thursday that the actual figure will be known after a last-minute scrutiny of the list by Commission officials.
A senior official with the office of Chief Electoral Officer, added that 65 per cent of Bangalore’s population has registered to vote — well ahead of the national average of 62.67 per cent. “Over six lakh new voters joined the list in areas under the jurisdiction of the BBMP. Before January, only 61.81 per cent of Bangalore’s population had registered to vote,” he said.
Nominations scrutinised
Jha said the scrutiny of nominations has begun in all 224 constituencies and as per the information available till Thursday evening as many as 3,957 candidates have filed their nominations.
“A clearer figure will become apparent by Friday,” he added.
Jha said there were eight constituencies in the State wherein more than 32 nominations have been filed. The list includes KGF (42), Mulbagal (41), Gulbarga South (41), Bellary City (40), Mayakonda (38), Hubli-Dharwad Central (37), Bagepalli (34) and K R Puram (33). Very few nominations have been received in Devadurga (6) and Puttur (7). “The scrutiny has been postponed in a few places including Kalaghatagi, where the returning officer was involved in an accident,” he added.
More cash, liquor seized
Election officials said officials at Gulbarga seized a truck carrying 500 cases of Indian-made liquor worth Rs 10 lakh, Thursday morning.
One person has been arrested. A preliminary inquiry by the Excise officials revealed that the load came from Madhya Pradesh.
Officials also said Rs 2.5 lakh has been seized in Tumkur, Rs 11 lakh in Belgaum, Rs 6.95 lakh in Dharwad, Rs 4 lakh in Ramanagar, 2.5 lakh in Gandhinagar on Thursday. On Wednesday, Rs 25 lakh was seized in Varthur, Rs 8.85 lakh in Savadatti, Rs 60 lakh in Hiriyur, Rs 5 lakh in Tiptur, Rs 4.45 lakh in Gadag, Rs 6 lakh in Malur and Rs 5 lakh in Raichur.