Voting brisk across the state, as Karnataka sees 37 per cent having cast their ballot by 1 pm

BENGALURU: The Karnataka polls on Saturday saw a massive turnout till 1 pm, as voting percentage touched 37 percent by afternoon.

While numbers are expected to dip for the next two to three hours due to the heat in afternoon, the brisk voting in morning has seen a considerable increase vis-a-vis the previous elections.

The highest voter turnout till afternoon was recorded in Bantwal, the constituency of incumbent Forest minister B Ramanth Rai with a whopping 60 per cent polling recorded by 12.45 pm. It is later followed by Kundapur with a whopping 49.78 per cent voting recorded till 1 pm.

The numbers also resonated in Nippani (48.27 per cent), Chikkodi Sadalaga (46.27 per cent), Piriyapatna (46.30 per cent) the two seats of Kodagu district (46 per cent) and other locations.

The elections are also not devoid of clashes between the party workers of the three major political outfits across the city. While stone pelting was reported in Shorapur constituency of Yadgir district, between the BJP and Congress workers, the bigger of the tussles occurred in Holenarsipura between incumbent MLA H D Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna and a local Congress leader Raje Gowda’s son.

The video shows a fight erupting between the two with the Congress leader’s son accusing Prajwal of “goondaism” on polling day.

Holenarsipura recorded a 52 per cent polling till 1 pm.

Meanwhile, in Chamundeshwari, clashes erupted between JD(S) and Congress supporters.