JOIN US The three Assembly constituencies which went for byelections on Thursday witnessed brisk polling, with Chikodi-Sadalaga clocking the highest poll percentage of 85.
Polling was by and large peaceful, barring incidents of villagers threatening to boycott the election over local issues and complaints of some party workers luring voters with cash.
Shikaripura constituency - where B Y Raghavendra, former MP and son of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, faces H S Shantaveerappa Gowda of the Congress - registered about 75 per cent polling.
In Bellary Rural, 73.08 per cent of the 1.87 lakh voters exercised their franchise. The fight was between Obalesh of BJP and N Y Gopalakrishna of the Congress.
Kavatagimath Mahantesh Mallikarjun (BJP) and Ganesh Prakash Hukkeri (Congress), son of former minister Prakash Hukkeri and present MP of Chikodi, are among the nine candidates in fray in Chikodi-Sadalaga.
Bellary
In Bellary, a complaint was filed by Hemaraju Reddy and Chinnappa Reddy at Caul Bazaar police station that they received life threat from Sriramulu when they went to cast their votes. The duo had switched over to the Congress from the BJP ahead of the polls.
Villagers of Malagondanakoppa in Shikaripura threatened to boycott the poll in protest against a polling booth not being set up in their village. Elsewhere, a private television channel telecast footage of a person distributing money.
Chikodi
In Chikodi, the entire voting process was incident free, expect for heated arguments between Congress and BJP workers at polling station number 214 at Indiranagar in Chikodi. Congress workers accused BJP leaders of indulging in fake voting.
In the 2013 Assembly polls, Chikodi clocked 80.03 per cent, while Bellary and Shikaripura registered 75.28 and 80.24 per cent, respectively.
The run-up to the polls witnessed high voltage campaigning, with the Congress and BJP making the outcome of the polls as a prestige issue. Counting of votes will be taken up on August 25.