People of Varuna happy with Congress, says candidate Dr. Yathindra

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son and Congress candidate from Varuna, Dr. Yathindra on Saturday said that the people of his constituency were happy with the Congress Government and its developmental works.

Dr. Yathindra's statement comes as the southern state is voting to elect a new assembly in Karnataka.

He said the Election campaigning in Varuna did not seem any different to him as he had been visiting villages there for last one and a half years.

"I have been visiting villages in the constituency for last 1 and half years. Election campaigning didn't feel any different. Wherever I went, people expressed confidence in Congress govt," Dr Yathindra told ANI.

He also said that Varuna was a "no nervousness" constituency for him.

Speaking to ANI, he said, "All party leaders and our CM have said that Congress is going to win and get 120+ seats. Their conviction is based on the ground report, surveys, they have travelled all through Karnataka, so they know the pulse of the people."

The Varuna constituency candidate also urged voters to exercise their right to vote.

" I request all the Kannadigas to come and vote, not to waste their rights and elect a progressive, liberal and development oriented party," he said.

The high-profile Varuna constituency in Mysuru district was supposed to see a neck-to-neck electoral fight between Siddaramaiah son's Dr. Yathindra and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's son, B.Y. Vijayendra.

However, the sudden decision by the state BJP unit to not field Vijayendra has pulled the curtains on this big showdown.

Siddaramaiah has been contesting from this constituency since 2008. However, he decided to pass on the baton to his son this time.

Hence, the constituency would be still making news as Dr. Yathindra (37) will be making his political debut today.

Yathindra is now fighting against BJP's Thotadappa Basavaraju and Abhishek S. Manegar of the JD(S).

A Congress bastion, Siddaramaiah, in the last election, easily defeated Karnataka Jana Paksha's (KJP) Kapu Siddalingaswamy and Cheluvaraj of the JD(S) by a comfortable margin of 29,641 votes (18.45 percent), securing 52.53 percent of the total votes polled. The seat witnessed a voter turnout of 82.43 percent.

In 2008, Congress won with a margin of 18,837 votes (13.16 percent), getting polled by 50.23 percent of the total voters.

There are a total of 2,13,812 voters in the constituency, including over 1 lakh female and 13 other voters.

Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot launched an attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying as there is a model code of conduct in Karnataka, PM planned to pray at temples in Nepal instead, just to influence the voters.

"As there is model code of conduct in Karnataka, PM Modi planned to pray at temples in Nepal instead, just to influence voters.This is not a good trend for democracy.Why did he only choose today as the day?," he said.

The polling, which began at 7 am in 58,546 polling stations, each equipped with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs), will conclude at 6 pm.

The election in two constituencies, Jayanagar and R.R. Nagar, has been postponed.

In Jayanagar, the polling has been deferred due to the death of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, B N Vijay Kumar, while in R.R. Nagar, it has been postponed due to fake voter-ID row.

A total of 2,654 candidates are in the fray and 4.96-crore electorate, including 2.44 crore women, will cast their votes. Over 15 lakh people are first-time voters in the 18-19 age group.

Tight security is in place to ensure smooth and peaceful polling in the 222 constituencies out of 224 of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.