Rain shadow over first leg of state LS elections

Rain could affect voting on Thursday when 14 Lok Sabha constituencies go to polls in the first phase, with the weatherman advising citizens to exercise their franchise by afternoon. Besides, authorities fear that an extended holiday could affect voter turnout.

The Meteorological Department and the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) have forecast moderate to heavy rainfall in south interior Karnataka. “Torrential rains will lash the region late in the afternoon. Hence, people have been advised to cast their votes as early as 3 pm,” KSNDMC director G S Srinivas Reddy told DH.

Over two crore voters will seal the fate of 241 candidates across 14 Lok Sabha segments, in what will be a litmus test for the Congress-JD(S) alliance against the BJP. Polling will take place from 7 am to 6 pm across 30,164 polling stations.

Prominent contestants include former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda (Tumkur), his grandsons Prajwal Revanna and Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Hassan and Mandya, respectively. Also, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North), senior Congress leaders Veerappa Moily (Chikkaballapur) and K H Muniyappa (Kolar) are in the fray.

Others include actor and independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh (Mandya) and Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore South), who was given the BJP ticket at the final moment over Union Minister Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini.

A key constituency is Mandya where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil is making his debut against Sumalatha, another debutant. Mandya saw a bitterly-fought campaign with Kumaraswamy devoting most of his time there to ensure his son’s victory against Sumalatha, who has the backing of the BJP, film personalities and disgruntled Congress leaders.

The spotlight is also on Tumkur where Kumaraswamy’s father Deve Gowda is contesting for the first time, after vacating his traditional Hassan seat for his other grandson Prajwal Revanna. The BJP has set a target of winning 22 out of total 28 seats in the state and is hoping to win the maximum number of seats in the first phase, banking on the “Modi wave”. For the Congress and JD(S), it will be a test of their alliance. With the transfer of votes between Congress and JD(S) crucial for the alliance partners, especially in the Old Mysuru region to defeat the BJP, the palpable dissidence and mistrust among workers of both parties in constituencies like Mandya, Mysore, Hassan and Tumkur are causing worry for the leadership.

The remaining 14 constituencies, mostly in northern districts, will go to polls on April 23. In 2014, the BJP had won in 17, Congress in 9 and JD(S) in two seats. In the bypoll held in November last year, the BJP had lost the Bellary seat to the Congress. In 2014, BJP had secured a vote share of 43.37%, Congress 41.15% and JD(S) 11.07%.