A large chunk of urban voters shy away from voting

 On Sunday, around 68.47 per cent voters made an effort to get out of their homes and cast their votes.

As always, voter turn out in rural areas was higher than urban centers of the district. Among the three urban constituencies in Mysore city, Narasimharaja constituency recorded the least voter turn out at 55 per cent, while Krishnaraja and Chamaraja recorded 56 per cent each, approximately. Chamundeshwari recorded a considerably higher voter percentage at 65 per cent. Statistics show that a large chunk of Mysoreans, in spite of the huge awareness programmes by the district administration, prefered to stay indoors on the polling day. 

Candidates of almost all constituencies cast their vote in the morning itself.

Krishnaraja’s BJP Candidate S A Ramdas voted at St Mary's School along with his mother Sarojamma. KJP candidate of the same constituency H V Rajeeva was seen with his wife M H Jayalakshmi at Institute of Engineers at Vidyaranyapuram. Vasu, Congress candidate for Chamaraja constituency cast his vote at Mahajana Public School. Tanveer Sait, Congress candidate for Narasimharaja constituency exercised his franchise along with his wife and daughter Parveen Sait, (a first time voter) at booth no 92 D Banumaiah Polytechnic College. S D Mahendra, BJP candidate of Varuna voted at J P Nagar; while Appanna, KJP candidate of Chamundeshwari and M Satyanarayana, a Congress candidate for the same constituency voted at Gungral Chatra of Yelawala. The lazy Sunday made voters turn up late to polling booths, which left polling officials without much work till late afternoon. Extended timings of voting (till 6 pm) was also an added advantage for the voters.

To avoid the scorching sun, people chose early evening to vote. A majority of them were seen coming out to vote only after 3 pm.

Barring some polling booths at Chamaraja and Narasimharaja, Krishnaraja constituency had least voter turnout till noon, which however picked pace by evening. Booth no 92 at Government Higher Primary School, Ashokanagar of Krishnaraja constituency had not more than 40 votes cast in the morning. Officials were however surprised to see a huge crowd after 3 pm. The scene was no different at JP Nagar and Vidyaranyapuram.

At Vokkaligara Samudaya Bhavan, of the 1,400 votes, only 300 odd votes had been cast till 3 pm. The condition remained the same till evening. Even Kuvempunagar had feeble response.

Chamaraja and Narasimharaja constituencies however saw a better voter turn out in the morning itself. The crowds thinned after 2pm.

Polling agents said that Narasimharaja had recorded a poor voter turn out, as many of its voters had settled abroad.

In Chamundeshwari constituency, voters were seen being ferried in autos. Political parties had  arranged to both pick them and drop them back to their houses.

A large number of senior citizens were seen making their way to the polling booths along with their children or grandchildren.

Chikka Kusu, 84, resident of Ashokanagar cast her vote along with her grandson C Raghavendra. Though she is now partially blind, she said that she had insisted on voting.

Papanna, 83, also a resident of Ashokanagar, who is nursing a leg injury, who was seen with his son P Dhanaraj said that he wanted to vote though he was disillusioned with the present system. “The present day politicians have no ethics,” he said.
DH News Service