Even as officials of the Kalaburagi and Dharwad district administrations were busy making arrangements for polling for the byelections to Chincholi and Kundagol Assembly constituencies on Saturday, candidates and their supporters took to the streets and visited houses in a last-ditch effort to woo voters.
After the curtains came down on public campaigning on Friday evening, State-level leaders of the Congress, JD(S) and BJP left the constituency. Most, however, stayed in nearby places and gave directions over phone to the local party workers.
On Saturday, the candidates in the fray in Kundagol, including the BJP’s S.I. Chikkanagoudar and the Congress’ Kusumavati Shivalli, were seen conducting door visits, distributing pamphlets and making personal appeals to voters.
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Targeting hamlets
In Chincholi, both the Congress and BJP candidates took up intense door-to-door campaigning, with special focus on Lambani hamlets that are significant in number across the constituency. The issues and the approach of individual vote-seeking by both parties just a day ahead of polling was similar to that of the month-long public campaigning.
While Subhash Rathod, the Congress candidate, continued to blame Umesh Jadhav, father of BJP candidate Avinash Jadhav, for necessitating the byelection by resigning from the Legislative Assembly, the BJP candidate banked entirely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma to impress voters.
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Being from the same community (Lambani), both candidates were keen on wooing members of their community, who number around 40,000. As their votes are crucial, both spent the day going door to door in Lambani hamlets. They made appeals to voters for a chance to represent them and work for the development of the constituency.
Meanwhile, in the wake of reports about efforts to win over voters by offering cash, Election Commission officials and flying squad teams are keeping vigil.