Sullia taluk in Dakshina Kannada recorded the highest voter turnout of 79.08 per cent in the gram panchayat elections held on Wednesday, while Mangalore taluk recorded the lowest turnout of 71.08 per cent. The overall polling in the district was 73.51 per cent.
Deputy Commissioner V. Ponnuraj, who released the statistics at a press conference here on Thursday, said that the polling percentage was 73.97 per cent in Bantwal taluk, 72.04 per cent in Belthangady taluk and 75.43 per cent in in Puttur taluk. Mr. Ponnuraj said that 95.56 per cent of voters in Kolnadu panchayat in Bantwal taluk had exercised their franchise — the highest for individual gram panchayats. The lowest was in Konaje gram panchayat in Mangalore taluk with only 33.68 per cent voting.
Mr. Ponnuraj said that 90 per cent of voters had brought elector's photo identity cards (EPIC) with them as proof of identity.
Twenty-eight voters could not vote because some others had cast votes in their names. Elections were held to 199 gram panchayats in the district. He said counting of votes would be taken up in two rounds on May 17. Only the candidate or his representative will be allowed at the venue of the counting to prevent overcrowding. There will be a separate area in the counting centres for announcing the results and issuing certificates to victorious candidate. A separate counter with a team of officials will also be set up at the counting centres exclusively for re-counting.
