65 per cent cast in bypoll

March 18, 2012

Udupi/ Chikmagalur, March 18: Nearly 65 per cent of the 12.53 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 PM in the bypoll to the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat, where ruling BJP is locked in a bitter contest with Congress and JDS.

Though the polling began on a slow note in the morning, gradually the voting picked up pace, officials said.

Of the total of 1633 polling stations, 231 have been categorised as hyper-sensitive and 788 sensitive. Extra police personnel have been posted in 77 Naxal-hit areas.

The bypoll was necessitated after D V Sadananda Gowda vacated his parliamentary seat following his elevation as Karnataka Chief Minister.

This is the second bypoll being held in the state after Gowda assumed office.

BJP has fielded former Karakala MLA Sunil Kumar, while former minister K Jayaprakash Hegde is the Congress nominee and Bojegowda is the JDS candidate. A total of 14 candidates are in the fray.

The run up to the bypoll saw fierce campaigning by the three major parties, with Gowda criss-crossing the constituency to ensure BJP retains the seat despite consistent attempts by former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to get himself reinstated ever since he was forced to demit office after the Lokayukta report on illegal mining indicted him.

Yeddyurappa had recently said he would not ask the high command for Chief Ministership and it is 'a closed chapter.'

The former Chief Minister did not campaign for the bypoll, irked over the BJP high command turning down his demand for a "suitable position" in the state unit.

BJP had finished a poor third in the November 2011 Bellary bypoll, which saw former minister B Sreeramulu contesting as an independent and winning by a huge margin ahead of Congress.

Counting will be taken up on March 21.

Also Read: Polling gets underway in Udupi-Chikmagalur

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Why Mangaluru Could Become India’s Next Offshore Wind Energy Hub

News Network

February 3,2026

Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta has urged the Centre to give high priority to offshore wind energy generation along the Mangaluru coast, citing its strategic importance to India’s green energy and port-led development goals.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha under Rule 377, Chowta said studies by the National Institute of Oceanography have identified the Mangaluru coastline as part of India’s promising offshore wind ‘Zone-2’, covering nearly 6,490 sq km. He noted that the region’s relatively low exposure to cyclones and earthquakes makes it suitable for long-term offshore wind projects and called for its development as a dedicated offshore wind energy zone.

Highlighting the role of New Mangalore Port, Chowta said its modern infrastructure, multiple berths and heavy cargo-handling capacity position it well as a logistics hub for transporting and assembling large wind energy equipment.

He also pointed to the presence of major industrial units such as MRPL, OMPL, UPCL and the Mangaluru SEZ, which could serve as direct buyers of green power through power purchase agreements, improving project viability and speeding up execution.

With Karnataka’s peak power demand crossing 18,000 MW in early 2025, Chowta stressed the need to diversify renewable energy sources. He added that offshore wind projects in the Arabian Sea are strategically safer compared to the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal.

Calling the project vital to India’s target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, Chowta urged the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to initiate resource assessments, pilot projects and stakeholder consultations at the earliest.

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