Voting is under way on Saturday in 222 of the 224 Assembly constituencies across Karnataka, and along with reports of brisk polling in many polli stations, there are also reports of voters being enticed with cash.
In the morning, the Kolar Rural police arrested four persons on the charge of enticing voters. They were reportedly distributing nose rings to women voters. The police are interrogating them.
At a polling station at Masti in the Malur constituency, a man was seen distributing money to voters coming out of the polling booth. Polling officials and police are yet to ascertain the identity of the person and for whom he was distributing cash.
In many cases, no formal complaint has been filed.
Bid to snatch reporter's mobile phone
At many places, party workers were covertly distributing money to voters. One such instance was noticed at the Ramagondanahalli polling booth. Some party workers tried to snatch The Hindu reporter's mobile phone when they realised they were caught on camera.
At Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, ₹500 was being distributed to voters after they cast their votes at the government school on Plain Street.
Elsewhere in the State, Akram Hassan from the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) claimed that over the past two days, money was being distributed on behalf of a candidate representing a "national party" to voters in the Narasimharaja constituency in Mysuru.
The Janata Dal (Secular) has lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission of India about money being distributed to voters in the Chamundeshwari constituency from where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is contesting. The complaint was filed by party spokesperson and MLC Ramesh Babu.
