A record turnout was witnessed in the bypolls to Nanjangud (Reserved) and Gundlupet Assembly constituencies on Sunday. While the polling percentage was 87.10 in Gundlupet, it was 77.56 in Nanjangud.
Voters who had been standing in queue outside the polling booths were allowed to vote past the 5 p.m. deadline, officials said. Even at 7 p.m., polling had not concluded in at least two stations in Gundlupet.
The voter turnout in both the constituencies has traditionally been above the State average. In the 2013 Assembly elections, Nanjangud and Gundlupet recorded a turnout of 76.18% and 85.25%, respectively — both significantly higher than the State average of 71.45%.
Polling peaceful
Polling was largely peaceful in both constituencies. Except for mild caning to disperse crowds gathering near the polling stations, there were no untoward incidents reported.
Officials, however, encountered malfunctioning Voter Verifiable Print Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in at least two booths in Nanjangud and six in Gundlupet. Polling was suspended for 30 minutes to one hour till the malfunctioning equipment were replaced or repaired.
In Mahadevanagar near Nanjangud, which has more than 600 voters, residents staged a protest over the absence of a polling booth in the village. They initially threatened to boycott the elections, but eventually relented and voted after 3 p.m.
A total of 2.01 lakh voters in Nanjangud and 2.08 lakh voters in Gundlupet were eligible to exercise their franchise.
Former Minister V. Srinivas Prasad, who resigned from the Assembly after being dropped from the Siddaramaiah ministry, is seeking re-election as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Nanjangud. He is pitted against Congress nominee Kalale Keshavamurthy.
In Gundlupet, Geetha Mahadeva Prasad, wife of the late former Minister H.S. Mahadeva Prasad, is contesting on Congress ticket against the BJP’s Niranjan Kumar.
The Janata Dal (Secular) stayed out of the contest in both constituencies, enabling a direct fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP. While the bypoll in Nanjangud is being billed as a prestige battle between Srinivas Prasad and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the one in Gundlupet, which saw BJP leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa campaign tirelessly, is projected as an electoral battle fought on the ‘sympathy factor’.
