Moderate polling in Karnataka by-polls

Moderate voting was registered for the by-polls to three Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats in Karnataka on Saturday, an Election Commission official said.

"Moderate voting of around 35 per cent has been registered across the five constituencies till 1 p.m. Polling has been going on in a peaceful manner barring few Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) glitches which were rectified soon," the official told IANS.

The by-polls were being held in Bellary (reserved), Mandya and Shimoga parliamentary constituencies and Ramanagara and Jamkhandi Assembly segments since 7 a.m.

While Jamkhandi registered a high voting percentage of 43.50 as of 1 p.m., Mandya stood at the lowest with 26.8 per cent, the official added.

Shimoga saw 30.2 per cent, Bellary 35.7 per cent and Ramanagara 39.8 per cent of voting.

Voting will take place till 6 p.m. in the 6,543 polling booths across the five constituencies.

A total of 54.5 lakh electorate, 27.2 lakh men and 27.3 lakh women, are eligible to cast their ballots.

As 51,131 voters are physically challenged, the poll panel has arranged vehicles to ferry them for voting from their homes and drop them back.

In all, 31 candidates are in the fray, including five from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), three from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and two from the Congress and 21 others as Independents or from regional outfits.

BJP's state unit President B.S. Yeddyurappa's son B.Y. Raghavendra, who is contesting from Shimoga Lok Sabha seat, was among the early voters in the constituency along with his father.

JD-S candidate for Ramanagara Anitha Kumaraswamy, the wife of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, was seen visiting polling booths in the constituency to ensure polling was taking place smoothly.

Vote counting of all the five constituencies will take place on November 6.

--IANS

bha/ksk