6% polling in first two hours in Karnataka bypolls

BENGALURU: About 6 percent of the electorate cast their votes Saturday in the first two hours of polling for the by-elections to three Lok Sabha and two assembly constituencies in Karnataka.

Live updates: Karnataka byelections

While the Lok Sabha constituencies of Shivamogga, Ballari and Mandya recorded 7.16 per cent, 4.4 per cent and 4.18 per cent voting respectively till 9 am, Ramanagara and Jamkhandi assembly constituencies have recorded 7.34 and 9 per cent polling.

A total of 54,54,275 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in about 6,450 polling stations.

There are a total 31 candidates in the fray in all the five constituencies, though the contest is mainly between the Congress-JD(S) combine and the BJP.
Counting of votes will be on November 6.

The Congress and the JD(S), which have come together in a post-poll alliance after the assembly elections in May this year threw up a hung House, are facing the polls unitedly against the BJP, which they perceive as their common enemy.

While the Congress has fielded its candidates in Jamkhandi and Ballari, the JD(S) is contesting in Shivamogga, Ramanagara and Mandya under an electoral understanding.

A total of 1,502 polling stations have been declared as sensitive, election officials said.

A total of 35,495 polling personnel are on duty for the bypolls in which 8,922 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) will be used, they said.

The outcome of the bypolls is expected to have a bearing on the alliance between the Congress and the JD(S) for the 2019 polls.

The BJP, which has been questioning the longevity of the coalition government, has predicted its fall once the bypoll results are out.

Among the prominent candidates in the fray is Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's wife Anita Kumaraswamy, who is expected to have a smooth sailing.