Elections boycotted in many parts of State

Citizens in many places across the State boycotted the elections on Thursday, protesting issues related to civic amenities and lack of infrastructure.

Addressing reporters here, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anil Kumar Jha said: “People boycotted elections at Dabbeghatta village in Turuvekere, protesting a local lift irrigation project. Similarly, polling did not take place at two polling booths in Bidar - at Aurad and Bhalki. Also, one other polling booth at Hanur in Chamarajnagar and four in Karwar did not see any polling.”

Minor incidents

Minor incidents of violence were reported from some places. In Ramanagar (Bangalore Rural constituency), two groups belonging to different political parties clashed, creating a tense situation atmosphere for some time.

The police arrested four persons in this connection and the polling process went on smoothly. A control unit connected to a polling booth in Anekal was damaged following a group clash in Anekal. 

An inebriated man smashed the electronic voting machine at a polling booth at Nelamangala. The election authorities immediately replaced the EVMs and ensured that polling continued smoothly at both places, the CEO said.

He said EVMs were replaced in 93 places and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines were replaced in 55 places (in Bangalore South constituency) because of technical glitches after the commencement of polling.