In the early hours of Saturday, it seemed like Friday night’s thundershowers had sent chill waves through the district. The polling stations, which would otherwise have witnessed brisk voting from the morning itself, did not have many visitors as polling opened at 7 a.m.
However, voters began queuing up across the district from around 8 a.m. onwards, taking the polling percentage from a mere 7% by 9 a.m. to 24%. As the curtains came down on polling at 6 p.m., a whopping 77.63% of the electorate of Dakshina Kannada had exercised their franchise, surpassing the 2013 percentage of 74.9%.
Polling was peaceful by and large across the district. Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil, in a release here, said technical problems were experienced in 24 control units, 21 ballot units and 42 VVPAT units of electronic voting machines, but they were all rectified.
Pink booths and model booths were the centres of attraction in the district. The administration had set up 20 pink booths — five each in Mangaluru City North, and South constituencies, and one each in the remaining five constituencies. Managed entirely by women personnel who wore pink clothes, everything was pink in these booths even as voters enthusiastically exercised their franchise acknowledging women power.
Two model booths were set up at the Government Higher Primary School, Gandhinagar and Lady Hill School, Lady Hill, under Mangaluru City South constituency which were decked up as if they were wedding venues. With seating arrangements, play area for children and other facilities, these booths were able to get the voters’ appreciation.
Arpitha J. Salian, a bride-to-be, came out of a pre-wedding bash in B.C. Road to caste her vote at a booth in Bhandaribettu, which falls under Bantwal Assembly constituency.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Non-resident Indians working mainly in the Gulf countries exercised their franchise. With the political atmosphere heating up before the polls, political parties ensured that many NRIs would come back to vote.
