Average 75.81 percent polling recorded in assembly by-polls in

An average of 75.81 percent polling was recorded in the by-elections to two Karnataka assembly constituencies, Chincholi and Kundgol, on Sunday.

While Chincholi registered a voter turnout of 70.3 percent, Kundgol 81.33 percent.

The outcome of the by-polls is likely to have a bearing on the stability of the JDS-Congress coalition government in the state.

Barring a clash between the Congress and BJP workers over alleged distribution of money by some leaders of the former to the voters, the polls were by and large peaceful, officials said.

Former MLA Umesh Jadhav, who is BJP's candidate for Chincholi accused the Congress of distributing money at gun point and staged 'dharna'.

Calling it a "murder" of democracy, Jadhav alleged that the state government "abused" its power and distributed money at gun point with the help of police.

The Chincholi bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Umesh Jadhav, who quit Congress and joined BJP to contest the recent Lok Sabha polls from Gulbarga against Congress heavyweight Mallikarjun Kharge, while Kundgol seat fell vacant following the death of Minister C S Shivalli.

The BJP also obliged Jadhav's son Avinash to contest from the seat vacated by his father.

There were also reports of EVMs developing problems in Chikkanarthi and Yalaguppi in Kundgol.

However, the joint chief electoral officer A V Surya Sen refuted them and said 10 VVPATs in Chincholi and 2 VVPATs in Kundgol were changed.

"No snags or stoppage of elections anywhere. All (complaints) were attended to," Sen added.

The bypolls are crucial for both the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance and the opposition BJP with the latter maintaining that a victory for it would boost its numbers in the assembly and have political implications.

There are a total of 17 candidates in the fray in Chincholi and eight in Kundgol segments.

The main contest is between the nominees of the Congress, supported by JDS, and the BJP.

BJP has fielded S I Chikkanagowdar and Umesh Jadhavs son Avinash Jadhav from Kundgol and Chincholi assembly seats respectively.

The Congress candidates are Subash Rathod in Chincholi and Kusumavathi, wife of Shivalli, in Kundgol.

There are a total of 1,93,869 voters in Chincholi, while Kundgol has 1,89,444 voters.

Voting is on in 455 polling stations (241 in Chincholi and 214 in Kundgol), where 695 Control Units, 1,051 Ballot Units, 916 VVPATs are being used.