By IANS,
Bangalore : About 30 percent of the 20.6 million voters in Karnataka cast their votes in 17 parliamentary constituencies till 3 p.m. Thursday even as a polling official was reported to have died of a heart attack.
Polling was dull in India’s tech hub, with 26 percent voting in the three Bangalore constituencies till 2 p.m., the election authorities said.
“Polling is peaceful. About 7.7 million votes were collectively cast by 2 p.m.,” an official told IANS.
A junior polling official, B.T. Krishnappa, died of a heart attack at a polling booth in Nelamangala, which is a part of Bangalore Rural constituency.
Chikkodi in north Karnataka reported 40 percent voting, the highest in the state till 2 p.m. Chitradurga in central Karnataka reported the lowest polling at 23 percent.
In the tech hub, 27 percent voting was reported in Bangalore North and Bangalore South while it was 25 percent in the newly constituted Bangalore Central.
Voting has also been dull in the adjacent Bangalore Rural with 24 percent till 2 p.m.
Of the 20.6-million voters, 10.3 million are women. There are 271 candidates in the fray for the first phase in the state.
“Though voting started on a dull note, it gathered momentum since afternoon in many constituencies. Barring missing names from electoral rolls and confusion over change in polling booths, voting has been smooth and orderly in rural as well as urban areas,” the official said.
Voting took place in around 29,000 polling booths in the 17 constituencies.
Of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, the remaining 11 will go to polls in the third phase April 30.