Except for an incident of violence, polling for the urban local body (ULB) elections passed off smoothly on Thursday. An estimated 65 per cent of voters made their choice among an over 1,000 candidates for the eight ULBs in the district.
At the time of going to press, the turnout in Jewargi and Afzalpur was 71 per cent, followed by Aland and Sedam (70 per cent), Shahbad (66 per cent) and Chittapur (64 per cent). The final voting figures for Gulbarga were unavailable, but as of 3 p.m. on Thursday, the turnout was 44 per cent.
Cases
In connection with the violence at polling booths 272 and 277, the police have registered cases against Bharatiya Janata Party councillor Ramanand Upadhyaya, who is contesting from ward no. 45.
The trouble began after police officials directed vehicles parked near polling booths be removed and ordered a large number of Mr. Upadhyaya’s supporters to disperse.
Shashil G. Namoshi, MLC, arrived at the spot before the fracas between the police and the BJP councillor began.
Mr. Namoshi was seen talking to the police official when, without any provocation, Mr. Upadhyaya began abusing inspector Sharanappa Bajantri.
The BJP candidate made an attempt to assault the inspector. However, other police personnel whisked away the BJP candidate.
Superintendent of Police N. Satheesh Kumar said that cases were being filed against the candidate and owners of vehicles parked near the polling booths.
Polling was disrupted for about 45 minutes in ward no. 42 of the Gulbarga City Corporation, due to a problem with the electronic voting machine.
Sigh of relief
Yadgir Correspondent writes:
Deputy Commissioner F.R. Jamadar and Superintendent of Police Vamsi Krishna said here on Thursday that the turnout in the district was estimated at 62.56 per cent. Yadgir recorded 59.09 per cent, Shahpur 63.26 per cent, Surpur 64.36 per cent, and Gurmitkal 63.58 per cent.
The district administration and the police heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the polling in Surpur, which saw an intense contest between the rival political parties and the Independent candidates fielded by the former Minister Narasimha Nayak.
The police had tightened security in all the 45 polling booths.
Apart from the regular police personnel, two platoons of the District Armed Reserve and one platoon from the KSRP were also deployed in Surpur as a precautionary measure.
