On a day that saw not much enthusiasm by voters to the byelections, residents of Aichanahalli village in KR Nagar of Mysore district, that comes under the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, did not cast their votes.
JD(S) MLA Sa Ra Mahesh’s promise to address the problems failed to convince the villagers to give up their protest. The residents did not even give drinking water to the polling booth officials.
They held a demonstration by displaying empty water pots. The residents said that theirs was a border village in the taluk, and hence, the authorities concerned had neglected it.
The residents said that they had to walk to Maragowdanahalli, two km away, to fetch water.
Voters in Gundapura village of Malavalli taluk had kept themselves away from polling in the morning over lack of basic facilities including water supply, but later relented.
Heart attack
Chandrashekhar, a polling official, suffered a mild heart attack at Thirumalapura village in Melukote Assembly constituency limits. He was admitted to a hospital in Mysore and is recuperating.
Mandya deputy commissioner B N Krishnaiah said a report had been sent to the Election Commissioner, with regard to the garlanding of the voting machine by JD(S) candidate C S Puttaraju’s wife Nagamma at the polling booth at Chinakurali in Melukote. Congress candidate Ramya has no vote in the Mandya Lok Sabha seat limits.
No holiday
In Bangalore Rural, the government order, asking private companies and educational institutions to declare a holiday to facilitate voters to cast their votes, did not seem to have made much impact as only a few had downed their shutters.
Barring government schools and colleges, mostly converted into polling stations, few private institutions closed for the day. According to one voter, his daughter studying in a private engineering college in RR Nagar was never given a holiday.
In Jigani, granite factories worked on Wednesday, with the employees not being given a break to exercise their franchise.
According to a few voters in Uttarahalli, garment factories gave their employees time only after 3.30 pm to cast their votes. A majority of the booths were looking empty till afternoon.
Anil Kumar Jha said it was unfortunate that companies and educational institutions did not abide by the government order. “We can taken action, only if a complaint is lodged with us,” he said.
JD(S) candidate in Bangalore Rural, Anitha Kumaraswamy, and her husband H D Kumaraswamy exercised their franchise at Ketaganahalli near Bidadi. Congress nominee D K Suresh and his family members cast their votes at Doddalahalli in Kanakapura, while SP legislator C P Yogeeshwara voted in Chakkare village of Channapatna.