Bengaluru, Aug 22: Only half of the 73.88 lakh voters in City exercised their franchise in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)?elections held on Saturday.
BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik, who is also the district election officer, said the polling trends suggest that the voter turnout could be around 50 per cent, which is quite encouraging. “We have received details from only 40 to 45 of the 197 wards and are still getting information on other wards. The compilation of data may take some more time,” he said.
Barring a freak accident in which a 25-year-old voter died when a tree branch fell on him in Shivajinagar, and a 70-year-old died of a heart attack after casting his vote in Vrushabhavathinagar, the polls were peaceful. In the first-ever elections held to the enlarged BBMP areas in 2010, the voter turnout was just 44 per cent.
The polling was peaceful barring minor skirmishes between supporters of political parties in JJ?Nagar, Yelahanka New Town, KR?Puram, Mahalakshmi Layout and a few other areas. At Begur ward, Congress party candidate M Anjanappa made a forced entry into a polling booth flashing his party flag after 5 pm when the polling officers were winding up their work and got two votes cast. The polling officers and constables watched helplessly as Anjanappa reportedly threatened them.
Fayaz Ahmed, a footwear shop owner, was killed when a branch of a tree crashed on him when he went to cast his vote in Shivajinagar. Septuagenarian Narayanappa, resident of Vrushabhavathinagar, breathed his last after voting.
While voter apathy was evident all over the City, the Who’s who of Kannada tinsel world showed up in large numbers to exercise their right. As in every other election in recent years, complaints of missing names in voters’ list was reported from many areas.
While the ward-wise polling data is yet to come out, Palike sources said high voting was recorded in Kempegowda ward (56.25), Chowdeshwari Ward (56.36), Dodda Dommasandra (52.8) and Yelahanka Satellite Town (52.58). Polling was abysmally low in Bagalakunte (34.7 pc), Thanisandra (37.08) and Attur (45.63). There was low turnout in the morning, mainly due to rain in some areas.
The counting of votes will take place on August 25 at 27 centres. Counting of votes will begin at 7 am and results are expected to be out by afternoon. After the polling, the Electronic Voting Machines were shifted to these centres under heavy police escort.
Earlier post
Peaceful polling on for Bengaluru civic corporation
Bengaluru, Aug 22: Peaceful polling was underway here on Saturday amid tight security for the Bengaluru civic corporation election, an official said.
"Though polling began at 7 a.m. and was dull earlier, it picked up momentum post-noon and 23-25 percent voting was registered till 2 p.m. in 197 civic wards across the city," a state election commission official told IANS here.
The day-long election till 5 p.m. is being held for 197 of the 198 wards, as the BJP's Bharati Ramachandra, 45, was declared elected from the Hongasandra ward (number 189) after the nomination papers of Congress candidate K. Maheshwari were rejected on August 13 for submitting a false caste certificate.
The century-old Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils and one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100.
Delimitation of the wards on the basis of the 2011 population census with 50 percent of them reserved for women have forced political parties to field wives or relatives of former corporators as contestants in many wards.
"Nearly 7.4-million (74-lakh) electorate is registered in the city to elect their corporators from 197 wards," state poll panel chief P.N. Srinivasachary said.
With 1,500 voters earmarked for each polling station, 9,310 electronic voting machines (EVMs) and 11,635 ballot units are being used.
With the poll panel and the civic corporation exhorting voters to cast their ballot, civic and poll officials are hoping for at least 44 percent voting by evening as recorded in the previous (2010) civic elections.
The state government declared a public holiday to enable the electorate to vote, while police banned liquor sale till Saturday night across the city.
Re-polling, if any, will be on Monday and counting on August 25. In all, 1,120 candidates, including 197, 198 and 187 from the BJP, the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) respectively, a dozen from regional outfits like Vatala Chaluvali Paksha, AIADMK and Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and 399 Independents, including many as rebels are in the fray. Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful polling, maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident across the city.
"About 20,000 policemen have been deployed in and around the 197 civic wards, with additional forces in 700 hyper sensitive and 1,990 sensitive booths," city police commissioner N.S. Megharik said.
In the previous five-year term (2010-2015), the BJP ruled the BBMP for the first time by winning in 116 wards, as against 62 wards by the Congress, 14 by JD-S and eight by Independents.
On the Supreme Court's directive, the revised polling date (August 22) was fixed on July 16 and the BBMP commissioner notified the election schedule on August 3, with the last date for filing nominations on August 10, scrutiny on August 11 and the last date for withdrawal on August 13.
Earlier Report
Polling underway in BBMP polls; Only 11% voters turn up till noon
Bengaluru, Aug 22: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) election, to elect a new council of corporators to govern the City for the next five years, is underway.
According to media reports, only 11% of voters have turned up to cast their vote till noon. Around 7,33,645 denizens have cast their vote so far, as per reports.
Till 9:30 am, only 4.5 percent of voters had turned up for casting their vote.
Voting has been delayed at several wards due to malfunctioning of the EVMs. The polling, which started at 7 am, will go on till 5 pm today.
As many as 197 corporators of the total 198 to represent that many wards, need to be elected. A BJP nominee has already been declared elected unopposed from Hongasandra ward. There are 1,120 contestants in the fray. In all, 17 parties have fielded 721 candidates and the remaining 399 are contesting as Independents.
It is to be seen whether the citizens will come out and vote in large numbers in this election. Voter turnout in the last election held in 2010 was just 44 per cent. The total electorate is 73.88 lakh.
The Congress party, which is holding the reins of the State had fielded candidates in all the wards. However, nomination of one of the candidates was rejected helping the BJP to win unopposed. The BJP, which was in power in the BBMP council for the last five years, have fielded candidates for all the wards. The JD(S) has not fielded candidates for 10 wards.
Electronic voting machines will be in use. Voters should be enrolled in the electoral rolls and produce any of the 22 government-issued cards at polling booths as identity proof to vote. Voter identity cards, known as EPIC, is not mandatory.
BBMP officials on poll duty and political parties have distributed voter slip indicating the polling booth of the individual voter in each ward.
Even those who have not received the slip may vote, provided they produce the government approved ID cards.
The indelible ink mark, also known as voter’s ink, will be marked on the left thumb.
If repolling is necessitated, it would be held on August 24 from 7 am to 5 pm. The counting of votes would be from 8 am on August 25.
Post 1990, the party in power in the state, had held the reins of administration in the Palike as well. It remains to be seen whether the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government would create history again. So far the Palike has not seen coalition governance. For Siddaramaiah, the stakes are high in these elections. He has been fighting to shed his ‘anti-Bengaluru’ image. He had become the face and voice of the party during the campaign.
In case of the BJP, MLA R Ashoka played a key role in selection of candidates. Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy was the lone key campaigner for the JD(S).
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