MLC poll turnout higher than last time

Belagavi: Voter turnout for the North West Teachers’ and Graduates’, and the West Teachers’ seats, was markedly higher than the polling percentage registered during the previous elections. Across the districts that constitute the three segments, polling was largely peaceful.
The final, albeit tentative, estimate of the voter turnout at the three seats is as follows: 80% for the North West Teachers’ seat, 84% for the West Teachers’ segment and 59% for the North West Graduates’ constituency.
In 2016, the turnout for all the three seats was considerably less than the corresponding figures registered this year. In fact, in 2010, the turnout for both the North West Teachers’ and North West Graduates’ seats had not crossed 50%.
Among those who had been involved in the campaign for the candidates of their respective parties were chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, who addressed rallies in Dharwad and Belagavi districts on the last day of the campaign on Saturday, and Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel.
Meanwhile, former CM Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar took on a proactive role in their party’s campaign for the council elections. The polls to the council are significant since it could help the ruling BJP muster a majority in the upper house of the state legislature, not to mention the fact that elections to the state assembly are due in a year.
Former minister and veteran leader Basavaraj Horatti is clearly the most prominent candidate in the fray for the West Teachers’ seat. Horatti, who has represented the segment for the past 42 years, is eager to win a record eighth term to the council. His BJP colleague, Arun Shahapur, contesting from the North West Teachers’ segment, is hoping to score a hattrick, while his rival, Prakash Hukkeri of the Congress, will hope for a triumph.