Voting for the bypolls to the three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies in Karnataka concluded at 6 pm on Saturday, 3 November. The five constituencies to which voting took place were Shivamogga, Mandya, and Ramanagara Lok Sabha seats, and the Ballari and Jamkhandi legislative assembly constituencies.
At the end of the day, the voter turnout showed Shimoga at 61.05 percent, Bellary at 63.85 percent and Mandya at 53.93 percent. The voter turnout recorded in the legislative assembly constituencies were 73.71 percent in Ramanagaram and 81.58 percent in Jamkhandi. A total of 54,54,275 voters were eligible to cast 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-JDS combine and the BJP. Counting of votes will be on Tuesday, 6 November.
The by-polls has been touted as a litmus test for the ruling Congress-JDS coalition.
- Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) are fighting the polls unitedly against the Bharatiya Janata Party
- Elaborate security arrangements had been made in all the five constituencies
- A total of 1,502 polling stations had been declared as sensitive.
- Kin of several leaders are being fielded, like CM Kumaraswamy’s wife, Anita Kumaraswamy, who is expected to have a smooth sailing in Ramanagara
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Voting Begins in Five Constituencies
Voting for three Lok Sabha constituencies — Bellary, Shimoga, and Mandya – and two legislative Assembly constituencies —Jamkhandi and Ramanagaram – began at 7 am on 3 November.
Visuals from a polling station in Bellary.
(Photo: ANI)
Former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa Casts Vote, Confident of Son's Victory
Former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa cast his vote at a polling booth Shikaripura in Shimoga. He had earlier said that he was confident of his son BS Raghavendra winning the Shimoga seat.
“101% my son is going to win the Shimoga seat. We are also going to win Bellary and Jamkhandi. We will get absolute majority in all the constituencies," ANI quoted him as saying.
BJP Candidate Srikant Kulkarni Casts His Vote
BJP candidate Srikant Kulkarni cast his vote at booth no. 150 in Jamkhandi’s Hirepadasalgi village.
He is pitted against Congress candidate Anand Nyamagowda in Jamkhandi.
BJP candidate Srikant Kulkarni.
(Photo: ANI)
Voting Underway in Jamkhandi's Hirepadasalgi Village
Voting is underway in Hirepadasalgi village of Jamkhandi.
People queue up outside booth no. 50 in Hirepadasalgi village.
(Photo: ANI)
