By IANS,
Bangalore: Over 45 percent voting was registered Sunday in the election to the 198 wards in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), a state election commission (SEC) official said.
“The tentative voting percentage is around 45 percent. It was about 40 percent by 4 p.m.. As there were long queues by the time polling booths were closed for entry 5 p.m., we estimate the final polling percentage to go up by five-six percentage,” SEC under secretary C. R. Revanna told IANS here.
Counting of votes will be held April 5.
Noting that the polling was by and large peaceful, barring stray incidents and complaints of voters’ names missing in some wards, Revanna said re-poll, if any, would be held next Sunday (April 4) after receiving reports from the district returning officers.
“So far no complaints or demands from any political party or Independents for re-polling. We will decide on it later,” he said.
Though 6.6 million voters are registered for the civic poll in this tech hub, polling started on a dull note, with about 10 percent voting registered in the first four hours after electronic voting machines were switched on at 7 a.m.
“Being a hot and humid Sunday, several voters stayed away during the afternoon across the city and the extended areas that were brought under the BBMP,” a spokesman of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said.
There were also reports of bogus voting and names of voters appearing on the electoral rolls more than once.
City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters that five cases were registered in poll-related incidents for impersonation and bogus voting.
About 1,300 candidates, including Independents, are in the fray in the 198 wards where about 6,400 booths were set-up for the nine-hour polling from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. About 30,000 policemen were deployed to ensure free and fair election.
Among the noted early voters were External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who hails from the city, BJP vice-president Venkaiah Naidu, Infosys chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy, low-cost aviation pioneer captain R. Gopinath, Rajya Sabha member and industrialist Rajeev Chandrashekar and Lokayukta (anti-corruption ombudsman) Justice N. Santosh Hegde.
The Congress fielded eight candidates with criminal records, the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) seven and the BJP four on the grounds that only cases were filed against them and none has been convicted.
The BJP is contesting in 197 wards, the Congress in 196 and the JD-S in 194. The rest of the candidates are Independents or belong to smaller political parties.
The civic poll was held after a three-year delay.
Since November 2006, the city has been ruled by administrators appointed by the government as elections were put off to rework the wards to keep pace with Bangalore’s expansion.
The Bangalore City Corporation, which had 100 elected corporators till 2006, became Greater Bangalore City Corporation in April 2007 with the merger of neighbouring areas which had their own City Municipal Councils until then.