By IANS
Bangalore : The lone by-election in Karnataka in the Ullal assembly constituency Saturday witnessed heavy polling, with about 70 percent of the 155,200 electorate voting by the closing hour at 5 p.m.
"The polling was peaceful all through the day. Initial reports from all the 140-polling booths indicate 65-70 percent voters turnout," a state election commission official told IANS from Ullal, about 375 km from here.
"Barring a few incidents in some booths, the poll process was conducted orderly," he added.
Braving the hot and humid coastal climate interspersed by rains in the afternoon, hundreds of voters lined up at the booths since polling began from 7 a.m.
In many urban booths, there were several complaints of voters' names missing from electoral rolls and attempts to cast bogus votes. Strict vigil by polling agents and tight security prevented any untoward incident.
The by-election, necessitated by the death of Congress legislator U.T. Fareed, has turned into a close contest for the opposition Congress and the two ruling parties, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which have fielded separate candidates.
The Congress had fielded Fareed's son U.T. Khader while the BJP nominated Chandrashekar Uchil, who lost to Fareed in the 2004 poll. The JD-S fielded Aboobacker Natekal.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Balakrishna Shetty and Bharathraj Shetty, an independent candidate, were the other two contenders in the fray.
Though Muslims constitute the largest vote bank, the BJP was counting on the support of non-minority votes, especially the 35,000-strong Billava fishing community as its candidate belongs to that community.
"About 1,100 police personnel, including 25 mobile patrol units and seven special security forces were deployed across the constituency," the poll official said.