Dakshina Kannada records 67.76 per cent polling
Mangalore Today News Network
Mangalore, December 31: A voting percentage of 59 percent was recorded in 1027 polling booths in 35 Zilla Panchayat (ZP) and 129 Taluk Panchayat (TP) constituencies, spread over DK’s five taluks during the second phase of the state-wide ZP/TP elections held on Friday.
The highest voting percentage of 71.98 percent was recorded in Sullia, while 69.36 percent was recorded in Puttur, 65.22 percent in Mangalore, 50.61 percent in Belthangady, and 46.67 percent in Bantwal.
A few hours after the voting process began election malpractice was reported at Bantwal, which comes under the jurisdiction of Golthamajal ZP, identified as a hyper sensitive constituency. As a result, the police arrested 16 people belonging to Congress as well as BJP for violating the election rules. The police also confiscated Rs. 1 lakh, 2 Tata Sumos, 1 Santro car, and around 20 mobile phones from the arrested. According to unofficial sources, workers of rival parties were attempting to woo voters with money.
Mangalore Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh and DK SP Dr. A. S. Subrahmanyeshwar Rao said that polling was quite peaceful, but for certain unsavory incidents, which took place in sensitive and hyper sensitive areas.
Polling commenced at 7:00 a.m. in DK and concluded at 5:00 p.m. in the evening, and long queues of voters could be seen at most polling booths in the morning. A few polling booths reported defects in EVMs; however, this problem was solved in the shortest possible time.
188 ZP and 374 TP candidates are fighting for ZP/TP seats. A total of 6,780 election workers, including 1130 presiding officers, 4520 assistant presiding officers, and 1130 other officers, were appointed to conduct the elections as smoothly as possible. A total of 1027 polling booths were set up all over the district, including 109 hyper sensitive and 133 sensitive booths.
Udupi, Dec 31: A large number of voters exercised their right to cast votes on Dec 31, Friday in rural areas, proving that rural people understand the meaning of democracy more than city dwellers. 74 candidates are contesting for 25 ZP seats and 238 candidates are contesting for 95 TP seats in 3 taluks.
Even people living in Naxal infested areas voted without fear. Records show that 50 percent people voted at 9:00 a.m. in Naxal infested areas such as Nadpalu, Hebri, Mutlupady, Kabbinale, Andar, Muniyal, Madamakki, Varanga, Hallihole, Someshwar, Amasebail, Thobattu, Shankaranarayana, Hengavalli, Muddur, Basriberu, and Jadkal, among others. Anti naxal squads, KSRP teams, mobile squads, home guards, and bomb detective vehicles were stationed at Naxal infested zones to enable people to vote freely and fearlessly. Since Naxals did not dare to visit these villages, there was no call to boycott the elections. Certain candidates could not vote because they were transferred to other places and changed constituencies under reserve policy.
Reshma Udaya Shetty, the district president of BJP Mahila Morcha; Dr. Santhosh Kumar Shetty, the former vice president of the Zilla Panchayat; Geethanjali Suvarna, the BJP-supported candidate in Padubidri constituency; Shyamala Sudhakar, the BJP candidate of Kalianpur ZP constituency; Sharada D. Bijoor, the Congress candidate of Shiroor ZP constituency; and Senapur Raju Devadiga, the TP candidate have missed their right to vote.
Various political leaders such as K. Laxminarayana, the MLA of Byndoor; Halady Shreenivasa Shetty, the MLA of Kundapur; Gopal Bhandary, the MLA of Karkala; Lalaji R. Mendon, the MLA of Kaup; A. G. Kodagi, the third finance commission president; MLC K. Prathapchandra Shetty; Kota Shreenivas Poojary; former MLAs K. Gopal Poojary and Sunil Kumar; former ministers Jayaprakash Hegde and Vasanth Salian, to mention a few, voted on Friday.
According to the final reports, 66.16 percent votes have been recorded in Udupi, 70 percent in Karkala, 65 percent in Kundapur, and 63.5 percent in Udupi. Excellent voting percentage was recorded in Koni, Basroor, Halliberu, and other places. Reportedly, voting was disrupted in Anagalli.
Voting for ZP/TP election begins in DK and Udupi
Mangalore, Dec 30: Voting for Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat election began across the Dakshina Kannada district and Udupi district on Friday, December 31 at 7.00am.
The voters at Uchila Bovi School (booth no 296) have expressed displeasure after the voting machine failure. Polling booth officer said that only four voters had cast their votes in the voting machine as the voting machine got corrupted at 8.30am in the morning.
A total of 215 candidates have filed nominations for the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections and 575 have filed nominations for the Taluk Panchayat (TP) elections. Only 188 of these nominations have been verified for ZP and 533 have been verified for TP.
According to district administrations only 116 candidates are contesting the ZP polls and 374 candidates are contesting the TP polls in Mangalore, Belthangady, Bantwal, Sullia, and Puttur, respectively.
Mangalore has a total of 1027 polling booths, adding that a staff of 6780 people has been appointed for the election, among who are 1130 presiding officers, 4520 assistant presiding officers, and 1130 other officers. 109 of the total 1027 polling booths have been identified as hyper sensitive and 133 have been identified as sensitive. A total of 133 sector officers have also been appointed.
Around 63 private buses, 63 vans, 202 jeeps, and 95 KSRTC buses have been hired for election purposes. 97 vehicles have been used for security purposes Around 242 video cameras have been installed to record clippings in case of any unsavory incidents during the polls.