70 p.c. voter turnout at Uppinakudru re-poll

An elderly voter coming with his relative to the polling station to cast his votein Uppinakudru village on Tuesday.

A voter turnout of 69.32 per cent was recorded at Uppinakudru (West) polling station in Byndoor Assembly segment in Udupi district on Tuesday.

According to Deputy Commissioner Muddu Mohan, the polling was peaceful. Uppinakudru (West) is among the 12 polling stations in the State, where a re-poll was held due to a snag in the Electronic Voting Machine on April 17.

The turnout at this polling station, which comes under Shimoga parliamentary constituency on April 17, was 74.38 per cent. Compared to the April 17 voter turnout, there was a drop of 5.06 per cent on Tuesday.

As many as 809 voters (460 women and 349 men) out of a total of 1,167 voters (629 women, 538 men) exercised their franchise in the re-poll. Voters, young and old, cast their votes came to Government Model Higher Primary School, Uppinakudru (West) polling station here. Many said that this was their first experience of voting in a re-poll.

While most felt that it was their duty to vote, there were a few who said that there was some wastage of time involved. Some rationalised by saying that technical snags were sometimes unavoidable.

Umesh Aithal, working at Gangolli Service Cooperative Bank, said that this was his first experience of voting in a repoll.

“Nobody can do anything if an EVM develops a technical snag. I can understand it,” he said.

However, Ashok, who is an aluminium contractor, said that his livelihood depended on his daily earnings. “Since there is a holiday due to re-poll, I cannot work today. A day’s earning is lost. I feel it is waste of time and could have been avoided. But I could not avoid my responsibility to vote,” he said.

Malati, who ties beedis at home, said that she had come to vote because she felt it was her duty to vote in the elections irrespective of the fact that it was a re-poll.

Janaki Angadimane (78) said that she had come to vote despite having a pain in her leg. “I have voted in all previous elections,” she said.

Manji (85) came in an autorickshaw with her daughter Tunga to cast her vote. Her house was at Patlerabettu, about a kilometre away from the polling station. Ms. Manji moved by holding her daughter’s hand and was hard of hearing.

She had not missed voting in any election. “My mother is punctual when it comes to casting her vote,” Ms. Tunga said.