Voter turnout 63.8%; polling goes off peacefully

No untoward incidents reported and no re-poll ordered

Women queuing up to cast their votes for the Mandya City Municipal Council elections; (below) Seetu Mogerti, 80, coming out of the Hindu Higher Primary School after casting her vote at Kundapur in Udupi district on Friday.

Elections to 105 urban local bodies (ULB), including three city corporations, was by and large peaceful and saw moderate voter turnout on Friday.

According to State Election Commission officials, the turnout was 63.8%.

Except for electronic voter machine glitches in two polling booths in Udupi and Chitradurga districts, where voting resumed soon with a replacement, there were no issues reported, said State Election Commissioner P.N. Srinivasachari. VVPAT machines were not deployed in the polls on Friday. No untoward incident was reported and no re-poll ordered.

Unlike earlier ULB polls, political passions ran low especially in Old Mysore region, where Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), though contesting independently, were on friendly terms owing to their coalition in the State government. This made the polls a low-key affair, probably leading to a low turnout as well.

Inducement to voters

Inducement to voters in some ingenious ways continued even as polling was under way. Many residents of Hassan town had a surprise on Friday morning. They saw fresh faces delivering milk packets at their doorstep, of course, free of cost. Along with milk packets, they dropped pamphlets of candidates contesting for Hassan City Municipal Council. The candidates and their supporters distributed milk packets as a last-minute effort to woo voters. “There is a belief that people would not disappoint those who offer milk. But, I don’t how people would choose their candidate in places where more than one contestant offered milk,” said a party worker. Cash, silver articles and chicken, apart from liquor, were the other preferred modes of inducement to voters reported from across the State. Election officials confiscated ₹3.14 lakh in cash and silver articles in Mysuru even as polling was under way.

Counting on Monday

Counting of votes in all 105 ULBs is scheduled for Monday, when the fate of 9,121 candidates contesting for 2,662 seats will be decided. The results are expected to pose a new challenge to ruling coalition partners Congress and JD(S), who will have to work out an alliance between them in various ULBs depending on how the results pan out.

BJP is hoping to make gains in Old Mysore region as well, taking advantage of the Congress-JD(S) alliance at the State level, positioning them as the only alternative to the ruling coalition.