Bangalore: Council Polls for 6 Teachers, Graduates Seats Pass Off Peacefully
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore. Jun 10: Elections to the six Karnataka Legislative Council seats from Graduates and Teachers constituencies, which are considered a litmus strength to assess the standing of different political parties among the educated and politically well-aware segments of electorate ahead of next year’s assembly polls in the State, passed off peacefully on Sunday.
According to officials of the Chief Electoral Officer here, about 55 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in six segments. Counting will be held on June 13.
Elections for another 11 seats to fill up the vacancies in the Legislative Council from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, which has 12 candidates in the fray including an independent backed by JD(S), will be held on Monday.
A total of 38 and 23 candidates are in the fray for the three seats each from the graduates and teachers constituencies respectively.
The percentage of voting in six constituencies is: North-East graduates 40.55, South-West graduates 50.39, Bangalore graduates 35, South-East teachers 83, South-West 60.49, and South teachers constituency 66.72.
Prominent leaders such as Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy, former Minister Ramachandra Gowda, and Capt Ganesh Karnik, all sitting members of the ruling BJP, are in the fray.
Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda exercised his vote in a polling booth in Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district.
Other prominent leaders who exercised their franchise are Ministers S Suresh Kumar, MP
H N Ananth Kumar, Legislative Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah and former Karnataka Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde. Legislators of the ruling BJP and Opposition parties cast their votes in their respective constituencies.
There were complaints regarding violation of model code of conduct by Congress and ruling BJP candidates against each other for openly displaying propaganda materials near polling booths in Bangalore.
The police have taken eight persons, who were found distributing fake identity cards for voting, into custody and seized hundreds of ID cards from them.
A total of 15 candidates are in the fray in North-East Graduates constituency, 7 in South-West Graduates’ constituency, 16 in Bangalore Graduates constituency, 9 in South-East Teachers’ constituency, 8 in South-West Teachers’ and 6 in South teachers constituency.
Mangalore/Udupi: MLC Elections - Polling Concludes Amidst Rumours
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore / Udupi (NM)
Update: 6 pm
Mangalore, Jun 10: The polling for MLC elections for the southwest teachers' and gradutes' constituencies concluded peacefully in the district on Sunday June 10 evening.
By the end of the polling day, graduates' constituency recorded 53.31 turnout and teachers' 57.47 percent. Altogether, 6,322 voters (3,732 women and 2,590 men) cast their votes in the graduates constituency and 2,817 (women 1,229 and men 1,588) in the teachers'.
The day was full of rumours. First there were reports tampering of votes against which JD(S) reportedly filed a complaint with the election officer. However, officials and JD(S) spokersperson themselves confirmed to Daijiworld that it was just a rumour and there was no truth in it.
Next, there were allegations that names of several voters had been deleted, leading to suspicions that the election was rigged. However, it turned out to be a mere confusion as the Konaje polling area being too large was divided into two, and hence some of the voters who did not find their names in one booth believed that their names had been deleted. However, they later voted in the other booth.
Chief minister Sadananda Gowda also cast his vote, in Puttur.
In Udupi district teachers' constituency recorded 56.9 percent turnout, and graduates 52.65 percent.
The polling in both DK and Udupi was largely peaceful.
Mangalore/Udupi: MLC Elections - Polling Under Way in Twin Districts
Pics: Hemanath Padubidri / Spoorthi Ullal
Earlier Update
Mangalore/Udupi, Jun 10:
The polling for the legislative councils for southwest teachers' and graduates' constituencies began in the twin districts here on Sunday June 10.
Peaceful polling is in under progress across the constituencies.
By 10 am, in Dakshina Kannada 605 voters (12.34 percent) had cast their votes in the teachers constituency, among whom 387 were men and 218 women.
The graduates constituency recorded a turnout of 10.9 percent, with 1,280 voters including 458 women and 533 men casting their votes.
Speaking to Daijiworld, MLA U T Khader of Congress and BJP MLC candidate Capt Ganesh Karnik expressed confidence that their respective parties would win the elections.
By 10 am, Udupi district recorded a turnout of 10 percent.
Udupi MLA Raghupati Bhat cast his vote at Manipal Junior College.
There are seven contestants from the graduates' constituency and eight from the teachers' constituency, covering Udupi, DK, Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Shimoga, and Davangere district’s two taluks Honnala and Chennagiri.
Contestants for graduate constituency: D H Shankaramurthy (BJP), SP Dinesh (Congress), S L Bhojegowda (JD(S)), Prabhakar Prabhu, B K Manjunath, Srinivas Shenoy, and Shankar Murthy (all independent)
Contestants for teachers' constituency : Capt Ganesh Karnik (BJP), Ramesh Joyappa Hosur (Congress), C M Panchaksharaiah (JD(S)), Dr Arun Devdas, K K Manjunath Kumar, M P M Shanmukappa, and Sooryanarayana Bhat (Independent).