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| Rural folks beat urbanites to booths |
| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Dharwad May 01, 2009, 00:12 IST |
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Rural voters were more enthusiastic in exercising their franchise than their urban counterparts as the polling for the Dharwad Parliamentary constituency on Thursday was a smooth affair with no untoward incident being reported.
The preliminary reports received just after 5 PM when the deadline for entering the polling booth ended the constituency comprising eight assembly segments had recorded approximately 55 per cent of voter turnout. The exact figures are expected late night.
The constituency has a straight fight between BJP’s sitting MP Prahlad Joshi and Congress candidate Manjunath Kunnur with 14 others in the fray.
Voting, which began on a sedate note in the morning remained so till afternoon. In the urban areas it picked up as the day progressed while in rural areas the voter turnout was just over 30 per cent by noon.
In Sutagatti village in Hubli-Dharwad West assembly segment, the voting stopped for a while as the villagers threatened to boycott polling alleging that their village had not been catered to by the authorities in development works. However, the assistant returning officer who rushed to the village convinced the voters and the polling commenced again.
Chief electoral officer for Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency Darpan Jain told Business Standard two electronic voting machines were replaced in the constituency. In Chikkagunjala in Kundgol taluk the ballot units were changed and in Tabakada Honnihalli of Kalghatagi taluk, the control unit was changed. However, no time was lost in replacing the machines.
Nearly 100 voters were seen still waiting in the queue at 5 PM at polling stations in Dhummawad and Begur villages in Kalghatagi taluk.
Confusion prevailed for a while at polling stations in Gandhi Hindi High School in Mattiparappana Koot of Dharwad as the voters complained that their names were missing from the electoral roll though they had EPICs. Former MLA and Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni who arrived with his supporters entered into an argument with poll officials. However, assistant commissioner Mahantesh Bilgi who rushed to the spot helped the voters find their names in the voters’ list prepared alphabetically and sent them to their respective booths.
The women voters’ turn out in Maradagi and Hebballi in Dharwad assembly segment and in Tirlapur of Navalgund segment was very low till noon. However, the situation was different in Morab and Algawadi and Navalgund where a large number of women was seen lining up to cast their votes.
Uppinabetageri, Amminabhavi, Karadigudda, Garag and Kallur in Dharwad assembly segment saw good voter turnout with nearly 60 per cent exercising their right.
The noteworthy point is improvement in voter turnout in Karnataka University, Channabasaveshwar Nagar, Kalyan Nagar and other extension areas in Dharwad where middle and upper middle class, educated voters reside.
The polling stations which otherwise wore a deserted look saw more than 50 per cent electors coming out to vote. Contrary to this, the voters’ response in some slum areas in Dharwad city was poor.
Seventy nine year-old Tippanna Yallappa Melinamani of Madli village in Shiggaon taluk who had come to cast his vote died of massive heart attack outside the polling station. He came out of the booth after casting his vote and collapsed due to cardiac arrest.
The EVMs after demustering will be brought to Dharwad and kept in a heavily guarded strong room at University of Agricultural Sciences. The counting of votes will commence on May 16.
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