A total of 71.3 percentage of voting was recorded in the elections to the Legislative Council from the South Graduates’ constituency on Monday.
Soon after polling began at 8 a.m. amid tight security, people began queuing up outside the polling stations in many parts of the constituency across Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar districts to cast their votes.
While Hassan recorded a turnout of 74.22%, Mandya and Mysuru recorded a poll percentage of 69.88% and 67.92% respectively, and Chamarajanagar was at 73.21% when polling ended at 5 p.m.
A total of 1.41 lakh voters were eligible to cast their vote including 58,263 in Mysuru, 47,301 in Mandya, 24,253 in Hassan and 12,146 in Chamarajanagar district.
The 71.3% voting recorded in the elections held on Monday surpasses the poll percentage of 44 recorded during the previous elections in June 2016 when the total number of voters was around 1.2 lakh.
Praveen Madhukar Pawar, Inspector General of Police, Southern Range, said the polling process was peaceful in the constituency with no untoward incidents reported from anywhere.
The Congress party’s Madhu Made Gowda, JD(S) candidate H.K. Ramu and BJP nominee M.V. Ravishankar are locked in a triangular contest along with sixteen others in the fray including Prasanna Gowda, who is supported by KRRS and other like-minded organisations, besides Kannada protagonist Vatal Nagaraj.
After the conclusion of the polling process, the ballot boxes from all the 150 polling stations across the constituency were brought to Maharani Women’s Commerce and Management College in Paduvarahalli in Mysuru amidst tight police security and kept in strong rooms. Counting is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on June 15.
Earlier in the day, representatives of different political parties had erected tents outside the polling stations and were seen guiding voters on the preferential system of voting.
In Mysuru, Suttur Mutt Seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji cast his vote at a polling station in Chamundipuram while JD(S) nominee Mr Ramu and BJP candidate Mr Ravishankar exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Kuvempunagar. Mysuru MP Pratap Simha cast his vote at the polling station in Ramakrishnanagar while former MLA S A Ramdas exercised his franchise at a booth in Chamunidipuram.
Congress candidate Madhu Made Gowda cast his vote at the Government Women’s College in Maddur in Mandya district.
In Chamarajanagar, all the four MLAs – Puttarangashetty representing Chamarajanagar, N. Mahesh representing Kollegal, R. Narendra representing Hanur, and C.S. Niranjan Kumar representing Gundlupet – cast their votes in the elections. Mr. Puttarangashetty even complained to the polling official that the pen he had during the polling was not writing properly.
