Lok Sabha polls: All eyes on counting of votes today

As the countdown has begun for the counting of votes of Lok Sabha election, all eyes have turned towards candidates from Mysore-Kodagu constituency.

The votes will be counted at Maharani’s Commerce and Management College for Women in Mysuru on Thursday.

The people and the candidates have been waiting for the election results with bated breath for over a month. The election was held on April 18.

Kodagu district has two Legislative Assembly constituencies - Madikeri and Virajpet. The votes secured by candidates in these two constituencies will play a vital role in deciding their fortune according to political calculations. However, all apprehensions will be put to an end with the announcement of results, expected to be clear by evening.

Pratap Simha has been fielded by BJP for the second consecutive term and his political rival is C H Vijayshankar, the JD(S) and Congress coalition candidate. The heated election campaign had gathered the attention of the voters all over the constituency.

There are a total of 4,40,730 voters in Madikeri and Virajpet Assembly constituencies put together. Out of them, 3,29,112 people have exercised their franchise during the election this time. In 2014 general elections, 3,01,434 out of 4,19,333 had cast their votes.

A total of 1,69,725 out of 2,21,157 voters have exercised their franchise, with a voting percentage of 76.74 in Madikeri assembly constituency this time. About 72.58% of voting was recorded in Virajpet, with 1,59,387 out of 2,19,573 people casting their vote.

As many as 21,397 voters’ names have been newly added to the electoral rolls. About 27,678 more votes have been cast compared to the previous Lok Sabha elections, which has added to the curiosity.

Kodagu, a strong fortress of BJP, has two MLAs and one MLC. The lone elected representative from the Congress is MLC Veena Acchaiah. If Vijayshankar wins, the credit will go to the coalition for storming the bastion. If Simha wins, the strong fortress of the BJP will grow even stronger.

Star campaigner from BJP and Central Minister Smriti Irani had campaigned at Gonikoppa for Simha. Also, a film actor had conducted a campaign for Pratap Simha, in Somwarpet.

State Government Coalition Committee Chairman Siddaramaiah, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLC C M Ibrahim, JD(S) state unit president H Vishwanath and former minister H C Mahadevappa had come down to Kodagu to campaign for the coalition candidate Vijayashankar.

Some of the major issues of Mysore-Kodagu constituency which came to the fore during elections this time are the price of coffee and pepper, railway projects and Kasturirangan report implementation.