55% polling in Bengaluru's Jayanagar Assembly seat

Around 55 per cent voting was recorded on Monday in Bengaluru's Jayanagar Assembly constituency where polling had been countermanded during the May 12 assembly elections due to a candidate's death, an election official said.

"Over 55 per cent voting had been registered in all the 216 polling stations till 6 p.m. The polling percentage is likely to go up by a minute fraction as few voters were still in queues after gates were closed at 6 p.m.," Returning Officer Mamatha told IANS here.

The constituency has a total of 312,252 registered voters.

"A total of 111,689 electorate, including 56,865 men and 54,824 women, have cast their ballots," she said.

Polling, which began at 7 a.m. started on a brisk note and progressed moderately registering 10 per cent voting till 9 a.m., 34 per cent till 1 p.m., and then 42 per cent by 3 p.m.

Noted Kannada writer Baraguru Ramachandrappa and yesteryear Kannada actress Bharathi Vishnuvardhan were among the early voters in the constituency, located in the city's upscale southern suburbs.

Polling in the seat was countermanded following the death of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4.

The BJP nominated Kumar's younger brother B.N. Prahlad as its candidate.

Withdrawal of Janata Dal-Secular's (JD-S) contestant Kalegowda from the fray on June 5 in support of the Congress nominee Sowmya Reddy, has made the electoral battle a straight contest between the two parties.

In all, 19 candidates, including nine Independents were in the fray. The other woman candidate in the contest is Nayeema Khanum of the Praja Raita Raajya Paksha.

Votes will be counted on Wednesday.

--IANS

bha/vd