The polling in the much-hyped byelection to Bellary (Rural) Assembly Constituency passed off peacefully on Wednesday despite apprehensions by the Bharatiya Janata Party that the Reddy brothers, supporters of Independent candidate B. Sriramulu, had created an atmosphere of fear.
An estimated 72 per cent of the total electorate of over 1.72 lakh exercised their franchise. This number is higher than the turnout in the 2008 poll in which Mr. Sriramulu had won with a margin of over 25,000 votes.
Security was stepped up by the Election Commission to meet any eventuality. Four companies of Central Paramilitary Force (CPMF) comprising of three units of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and one unit of the Border Security Force (BSF) and around 2,100 police personnel and Home Guards were deployed in the constituency as a precautionary measure.
“Polling passed off peacefully without any untoward incident being reported from any part of the constituency. I would like to thank the candidates, their supporters, the staff on election duty, particularly the police, for their full cooperation in ensuring that the polling process passed off peacefully,” Amlan Aditya Biswas, Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, told presspersons after the polling ended.
The polling began at a brisk pace in the morning, when long queues were seen at most polling booths in urban and rural areas. The polling percentage crossed the 50 per cent mark by around 2 p.m. Long queues were also seen in front of several booths a couple of hours before polling came to a close at 5 p.m.
Mr. Biswas said he had received several oral complaints of distribution of money, canvassing in banned limits, among others to which he, along with Chandragupta, Superintendent of Police, had responded immediately. “But we did not witness money being distributed. The authorities successfully dealt with complaints regarding canvassing and people assembling in large numbers,” he said.
Threatened
Mr. Biswas said that D. Vinod, chairman of Bellary Urban Development Authority, had complained orally of being threatened by some persons, but he had not given it in writing. Earlier, Mr. Vinod informed presspersons that he had been threatened by G. Somashekara Reddy, MLA and Chairman of Karnataka Milk Federation, for working against Mr. Sriramulu. Cash was seized from a person who was attempting to distribute it to voters at Parma Devanahalli village, Mr. Biswas said.
