Bellary bypoll peaceful, 72 per cent cast ballot

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Bellary, Nov 30, 2011: About 72 per cent of the electorate cast their ballot in Bellary (rural) bypoll in Karnataka where the ruling BJP is locked in a bitter contest with its former leader B Sreeramulu who is seeking re-election as an independent.


"The polling was completely peaceful", an Election Commission official said.

With 133 polling booths identified as hypersensitive and 52 sensitive out of the total 195, the Assembly segment had come under a thick security blanket with some 2,500 personnel, including four companies of central paramilitary force, civil police and home guards, deployed.
Sreeramulu, a former Health Minister, quit the seat after being indicted in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining, and parted ways with the BJP by contesting as an independent.

It’s seen as a prestigious battle for the ruling BJP, after the Reddy brothers and former Ministers -- G Janardhana Reddy and G Karunakara Reddy, who had been given free hand in the district party affairs -- drifted away from it.

In the run-up to the fiercely contested bypoll, BJP suspended two Lok Sabha members, three MLAs and one MLC who backed Sreeramulu. P Gadilingappa is the BJP candidate, while the Congress has fielded B Ramprasad in this triangular contest. JDS of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has extended support to Sreeramulu. The counting is scheduled for December four.

Courtesy: Deccan Herald