Byelection: EC gears up for polling

Leaders of both BJP and Congress parties left the constituencies on Friday after campaigning came to a close by evening.

As per the guidelines of the Election Commission (EC), open campaigning should conclude 48 hours before the polling starts. Polling for both Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly segments have been scheduled for April 9 between 7 am and 5 pm.

In Nanjangud constituency, the EC has established 236 booths. Among them, 72 have been identified as hyper-sensitive, 124 as sensitive and the remaining 40 are normal.

The constituency has 11 candidates, including those from national parties Congress and BJP who are in the fray. While BJP has fielded former minister V Srinivas Prasad, Congress party has fielded Kalale N Keshavamurthy who lost to Prasad in the previous Assembly poll in 2013. While Karunaadu Party has fielded M Pradeepkumar, the remaining are independent candidates. The segment has a total of 2,00,498 voters, 1,01,267 men and 99,231 women.

In Gundlupet segment, there are 250 polling booths and 49 of them have been identified as hyper-sensitive, 56 as sensitive and the remaining 145 are normal.The segment has as many as 2,00,862 voters including 1,00,144 men, 1,00,701 women and 17 others. A total of seven candidates are in the fray. While BJP candidate is C S Niranjan Kumar, Congress has fielded late minister H S Mahadev Prasad’s wife M C Mohanakumari.

Counting of votes will be held on April 13. However, the model code of conduct, which is in force from March 9, will be effective till April 15, when the process of election is completed.

The Election Commission, along with Police department and Mysuru and Chamarajanagar district administrations, has made elaborate security arrangements in both Assembly segments. The Election Officers in both the constituencies have filed several cases and have also arrested several people for irregularities in the process of election from March 9.