LS polls: Both BJP, Congress buoyed by high turnout in Kundgol

HUBBALLI: Kundgol recorded its highest voting percentage in the by-election held on Sunday at 82.42. In the 14 assembly elections held since 1957, this is the first time that voting has breached the 80 per cent mark.
Now, both BJP and Congress leaders feel the high voter turnout may work in their favour. While BJP claims the high turnout will help its candidate S I Chikkanagoudar win, Congress claims that the high voting percentage is due to the sympathy towards its candidate Kusumavati Shivalli.

In the 2018 assembly election, Kundgol had recorded a voting percentage of 78.67. In 2019, the turnout is higher by 3.75%. In 2018, Congress candidate C S Shivalli had won with a slender margin of 634 votes against BJP’s Chikkangoudar.
‘SVEEP efforts worked’
Senior assistant director, department of information and publicity, Dharwad Manjunath Dollin told TOI, “We had organized unique programmes like cart rally, rangoli event, bike rally, street plays through SVEEP committees to educate rural masses to exercise their franchise in the by election. Our efforts have yielded good results with a 3.75% jump in voting compared to the 2018 election.”