The second phase of polling held to the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka ended in absolutely peaceful manner today. An estimated 60.31 per cent of 15.5 million voters turned out to vote. Both the first and second phase of polling put together, the total percentage of voting works out to be 56.70 per cent in the state.
The total percentage of voting may go up further as voting was still continuing beyond beyond the official closure of 5 pm due to heavy turnout of voters at the last minute in some places. There were no incidents of violence during the day, according to state election commission. The fortunes of 156 candidates have been sealed by voters. Important among them are two former chief ministers, S Bangarappa of Congress from Shimoga, H D Deve Gowda of Janata Dal (S) from Hassan, former Union ministers Ambareesh from Mandya and Janardhan Poojary (both Congress) from Dakshina Kannada.
M N Vidyashankar, state chief electoral officer said 9.35 million voters turned out to vote till 5.30 pm this evening. “As all those in the queue till 5 pm will be allowed to cast their votes, the total percentage of voting will go up. The final figures will be available by tomorrow,” he said.
Among the constituencies where voting was held today, Dakshina Kannada recorded the highest 72 per cent voting, while Haveri recorded the lowest 54 per cent when reports came in at 5.30 pm today. Among other constituencies, Bagalkot and Dharwad recorded 57 per cent each, Davanagere 60.20 per cent, Shimoga 62 per cent, Udupi-Chikmagalur 62.50 per cent, Hassan 68.50 per cent, Mandya 57.50 per cent, Mysore 56 per cent and Chamarajanagar 58 per cent.
No voter turned up to vote in five polling stations — one each in Bagalkot and Udupi-Chikmagalur constituencies, three in Mandya constituency. Voters in these polling stations boycotted voting for lack of development activities in their villages. People in Bagalkot have protested the poor rehabilitation work in the district, while forest-related issues were the reasons in Udupi-Chikmagalur districts.
The election commission had to replace 19 electronic voting machines in Bagalkot, Dharwad, Shimoga, Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Chamarajanagar and Mandya constituencies.
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Voting in 165 Naxal-affected polling stations went on peacefully. Of them, 70 per cent voting was registered in 23 polling stations in Dakshina Kannada, 60.3 per cent in 43 polling stations under Shimoga, 64.10 per cent in 99 polling stations under Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency.
Vidyashankar said the scrutiny of Form No.17A will be held tomorrow at 11 am and based on the scrutiny decide on the possibility of conducting repoll, if they find any discrepancies.
There were some complaints of names of voters missing in Mysore constituency.
The counting of votes will be held on May 16.