Except for minor skirmishes, polling uneventful in Bengaluru

Polling in Bengaluru was largely peaceful except for minor skirmishes between workers of different political parties.

In Attibele, police booked a Congress party worker for roughing up a sub-inspector and obstructing him from discharging his duties.

Veeresh, a constable attached to the Attibele police, was manning polling booths 213 and 214. He objected to a Congress worker, Shivu Pillappa alias Shivakumar (32), distributing pamphlets to voters less than 50 metres from the polling booth.

Shivakumar is said to have argued with the policeman and abused him, and went on canvassing. Veeresh informed his superior, sub-inspector
Murali, who then rushed to the spot and reprimanded Shivakumar.

Things then went out of hand. Shivakumar allegedly manhandled the sub-inspector and caught him by the
collar. The buttons of his uniform came apart. Meanwhile, Shivakumar’s supporters, around 150 of them, gathered around Murali and raised slogans. The policeman didn’t retaliate. The police team moved away.

“I wanted polling to go on peacefully and chose not to react immediately as the situation might get worse. We moved out to safety and later registered an FIR,” Murali told DH. Police are looking for Shivakumar who is said to be absconding.

At Virupaksha Swamy Education Society in Hampinagar, West Bengaluru, tension prevailed around 11 am when the BJP’s local corporator, Anand C Hosur, was allegedly roughed up by Anand and Prakash, said to be the workers of a rival party. The trigger for the violence was an argument over setting up counters and issuing voting slips. The Vijayanagar police arrested both the men and registered a case. Ravi D Channannavar, DCP (West), visited the spot and reassured the voters.

At Giddabanahalli, near Hoskote, police mildly caned a group of Congress and BJP workers throwing stones at each other. Four political workers were injured in the incident. An additional police force was deployed at the spot soon after the incident.

In East Bengaluru, Konena Agrahara corporator Chandrappa Reddy and his son Madhusudhana Reddy sustained minor injuries when the workers of rival party allegedly assaulted them over a trivial row near Visevesvaraya college in CV Raman Nagar. No complaint was lodged.

In West Bengaluru’s Azad Nagar (Chamarajpet Assembly constituency), BJP workers claimed Congress functionaries were distributing money to voters at a house near a polling booth.

Hundreds of workers from both the parties soon gathered at the spot, leading to a commotion. The candidates of both the parties later visited the house and appealed to workers to maintain peace. More policemen were deployed at the place.

In Central Bengaluru’s Viveknagar, police detained two people who were allegedly paying voters. Similar skirmishes were reported from Yelahanka and Padmanabhanagar.