By Shaik Zakeer Hussain, TwoCircles.net,
Karnataka: Except for a few minor incidents of clashes in Kolar, Belgaum, Gadag and Mysore districts, the 14th Karnataka Assembly elections went relatively peacefully in the state.
Over 70.23% of nearly 4.36 crore electorate exercised their franchise, to decide the fate of 2940 candidates in 223 constituencies.
Bangalore city, which has always had a poor voting percentage, recorded an estimated voter turnout of 52.83 per cent, a modest five per cent increase from the 2008 polls.
While election in Periyapatna in Mysore district has been postponed to May 28 following the death of the BJP candidate, the residents of some villages in north Karnataka abstained from voting, in protest against lack of basic facilities like drinking water etc.
The highest voter turnout was seen in Bangalore Rural district with 77.95 per cent, followed by Hassan at 76.88 per cent. Bhatkal saw 72% turnout, and Mangalore (Ullal) 73.6%. The lowest was seen in Bangalore Urban, followed by Bidar with 54.98 per cent.
Prominent Muslim candidates included R. Roshan Baig, N. A. Harris and U.T. Khadar from the Indian National Congress (INC), B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan and Abdul Azeem from Janata Dal (Secular) and various others from Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
Elaborate security arrangements had been made with around 1.35 lakh police personnel on duty at around 52,000 polling booths where about 65,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) had been installed.
Immediately following the elections on Sunday, Exit polls and predictions by TV channels here claimed, that Congress is most likely to win Karnataka and the ruling BJP could end up a distant loser.
The counting of the votes will take place on May 8.
Related: