12 candidates in fray in Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency

Twelve candidates are in the fray in Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency as two independent candidates have withdrawn their nominations on Friday, the last day to withdraw the nominations.

Udupi Deputy Commissioner Hephshiba Rani Korlapati said that Ganapthy Shettigar and Sudheer Kanchan had withdrawn their nominations. The remaining 12 candidates are in the process of filling up 7A Form.

The candidates who are in the fray are Shobha Karandlaje (BJP), Pramod Madhwaraj (JD(S), M K Dayanand (Proutist Sarva Samaj Party), M K Ganesh (Independent), Gautam Prabhu (Shiv Sena), Shekar Havanje (Republican Party of India), Suresh Kunder (Uttama Prajakeeya Party), Vijay Kumar (CPI, Marxist and Leninist, Red Star), P Parameshwar (BSP), Amrit Shenoy (Independent), K C Prakash (Independent) and Abdul Rehman (Independent).

There are 14,98,016 voters in the Lok Sabha constituency, of which 7,65,823 are
women voters. Among the total voters, 30,826 are youth while 11,861 differently abled. Nearly 99.9 % of voters identity cards had been distributed, she added.

Korlapati said there were more women voters in Udupi district and hence plans had been chalked out to introduce more than 26 ‘Sakhi’ polling booths which would be managed by all women polling staffs.

Three ethnic polling booths are planned to be set up in tribal areas while about three polling booths will be managed by persons with disability.

The constituency will have 1,837 polling stations, of which 1,111 are in Udupi district and the remaining in Chikkamagalur district. In Udupi district, there will be 1,401 presiding officers, 1,405 first booth officers, 2,810 second and third booth officers.

As many as 5,616 staffs are deployed in the polling booths across the district (Udupi), she added.

Of the total 4,630 licensed weapons in the district, 3,693 weapons have been surrendered to the police stations.

Korlapati said that seven cases were registered for violation of model code of conduct and Rs 16,65,810 had been seized in Udupi.

However, Rs 3,25,960 have been returned following the submission of valid documents.

She added that 42 cases were accepted through cVigil App, of which 32 were found genuine.

About 18,100 liters of alcohol was seized following the implementation of code of conduct by Excise Department and the police have seized another 2,520 liters of liquor.

General Observer Krishna Kunal said 700 political parties have added to the existing list of 1,700 parties since the last Lok Sabha elections.

He assured to look into the case wherein an independent candidate and Congress rebel, Amrit Shenoy, had collected funds through Padyatra for the election campaign. The Cash Redressal Committee will look into the case.