Mangaluru/Udupi, May 29: Polling in the first phase of the two-stage Gram Panchayat election across Karnataka including coastal districts began on Saturday morning. The polling began at 7 a.m. on a peaceful note in Dakshina Kananda and Udupi, according to election officials.
U T Khadar, minister for health and family welfare, cast his vote at Boliyar Rantadka Jaradagudde Government School, Mudipu. B Ramanath Rai, minister for forest, environment and ecology and Dakshina Kananda district in charge, cast his vote at a village in Bantwal taluk.
Dakshina Kannada has a history of good voter turnout, with 73.51 per cent of the voters exercising their franchise during the previous gram panchayat elections (2010).
Though no large-scale malpractices were reported in the district during the run-up to the polls, there were a few minor complaints, including allegations of political parties carrying out the campaign on party-lines, which is prohibited by law.
The administration has ensured adequate security, particularly at booths categorised as sensitive and hyper sensitive, said Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim. The district has 880 polling booths of which 65 have been classified as naxal-prone, 139 as hyper sensitive, 216 as sensitive and 460 as normal.
As many as 2,700 police personnel have been deployed for security arrangements, according to Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa. He said as many as 61 mobile sector squads and 10 supervisory mobile squads would keep tab on the poll process even as polling would be video recorded in select polling booths.
Udupi
Voting is underway in 837 polling booths across the Udupi district district.
There are as many as 697523 voters in the district, of which 365042 are men and 332186 are women. 25 are transgender. The voters list being considered follows the enrolment till May 18. In Udupi taluk, there are 311380 voters, of which 147950 are men and 163422 are women and eight transgender. In Karkala, there are 140018 voters, of which 66360 are men and 73658 are women.
Tight security arrangements have been made at 54 polling booths in Maoist areas in Udupi. K. Annamalai, Superintendent of Police, told presspersons here that there were 27 polling booths each in Maoist areas in Kundapur and Karkala taluks.
“Since there were reports of naxalites being spotted in Chikkamagaluru district last month, we have taken maximum security measures. I have visited all 54 polling stations,” he said.
As many as 1,450 policemen and officers have been deployed for 837 polling booths in the district. This includes police personnel from Kerala, Bengaluru and Shivamogga.
Parties of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Home Guards were also helping the police. A few striking parties too were on the standby. There was a tight vigil on hyper-sensitive booths in the district, Mr. Annamalai said.
Also Read: 74% turnout in DK, 72% in Udupi as GP poll ends on peaceful note
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