JOIN USWorkers of the BJP and the Congress clashed at Sooranagollarahatti village in Chitradurga taluk during elections to the zilla and taluk panchayats in Chitradurga district. Nine people were injured in the incident.
Hanumanthareddy, brother of the Congress candidate for the Guddadarangavvanahalli ZP seat G T Babureddy, and party worker Manjunath were severely injured in the incident. Four workers of the BJP were also injured in the violence.
Cases have been registered at the Turuvanuru police station. Barring this incident, the voting was peaceful elsewhere in the district. At Swandenahalli booth in Tumakuru taluk, workers of JD(S) and Congress clashed an hour before the end of polling. The police resorted to mild lathi charge and brought the situation under control. The polling picked up pace in Davangere district only after 3 pm. The voting was uneventful in the district.
Lukewarm response
The elections drew a lukewarm response in the booths of Haveri district. Drought and farmer suicides seemed to have cast a shadow on the polls.
People in Thimmenahalli of Byadagi taluk boycotted the election. Residents at Kurubamallura in Savanur taluk boycotted the polls, but relented later. Residents of Thimmenahalli in Byadagi taluk did not vote, in protest against the polling booth being too far from their village (at Belakeri which is one km away). The assurance by additional DC T Yogish that the village would have a booth in the next poll did not move the voters.
Bagalkot district recorded 64.56 per cent in the election, according to preliminary reports. The percentage has registered a dip from 70 per cent recorded in the 2011 ZP, TP elections. It is said that the ongoing jowar harvesting had hit the polling percentage.
Evening enthusiasm in U-K
Election to 39 ZP seats and 130 TP constituencies passed off peacefully in Uttara Kannada district. Voting was just 46.52 till 3 pm, but gathered pace thereafter. Youths showed less enthusiasm in the polling. The electronic voting machine developed a snag after a few hours at booth number 12 in Chittakula. The machine was replaced and voting resumed.
Shivamogga
Barring the incidents of poll boycott in some villages and group clash, the polling was peaceful during the elections to 31 ZP seats and 97 TP seats in the district. According to the district administration, the district witnessed 71.6 per cent voter turnout.
Late MLA still on voters’ list
The byelection to the Devadurga Assembly seat in Raichur district was held, following the death of A Venkatesh Nayak, the sitting MLA. The legislator had died in a train accident on August 24 last year. But the name of the legislator was still there in the voters’ list at Arakera village in the constituency. Names of many other dead voters were also found in the voters’ list.
Voters turned up enthusiastically at polling booths for polling in Belagavi on Saturday. The district recorded an approximate 71 per cent turnout. Polling continued in some of the stations even after the scheduled closing time of 5 pm ended with voters standing in queue being allowed to cast their votes.