Voting underway in 102 ULB polls across Karnataka; bigwigs cast their vote

Bengaluru, Aug 31: Moderate polling is underway for the election to 102 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across Karnataka, a poll official said on Friday. Polling started at 7 a.m. amid tight security, the official added.

About 40,000 security personnel have been deployed in cities and towns to maintain law and order across the state where voting will continue till 5 p.m. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being used in the poll.

Voting is being held in 2,529 wards spread over 29 city municipalities, 53 town municipalities and 23 town panchayats and in 135 wards of the three city corporations.

In all, 8,340 candidates, including 2,306 from the Congress, 2,203 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 1,397 from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are in the fray for the ULBs, while 814 are contesting in the city corporations, including 135 from Congress, 130 from BJP and 129 from JD-S.

A total of 36 lakh voters are registered for exercising franchise in the ULB wards and 13.33 lakh in the three towns of Mysuru, Shivamogga and Tumakuru.

Till 9 a.m., 6.04 per cent voters in Mysuru have exercised their franchise.

In Mysuru city corporation there are 7,98,107 registered voters - women 396896, men 401113 and others 98. A total of 815 polling booths have been setup for 65 wards.

Senior Congress leader and former MLA Vasu, who cast his vote at Mahajana First Grade College in Jayalakshmipuram, while speaking to reporters supported former CM Siddaramaiah's claim of becoming CM once again.

Vasu said that Siddaramaiah's claim will not affect the JDS - Congress coalition or government.

Counting of votes will be taken up on September 3 and most of the results are expected by night or early the next day.

Though the civic election was earlier scheduled to be held in 105 ULBs, it has been postponed in three of them -- Somwarpet, Virajpet and Kushalnagar due to heavy rains and flash floods early in August in the Kodagu district, about 270km from here.

In the 2013 ULB elections held in 4,976 seats, the Congress had won 1,960 seats, while BJP and JD-S had won 905 seats each, the Independents bagged the remaining 1,206 seats.

The outcomes of these polls will not impact the stability of the government, but could change political equations since the Congress and JD(S), bowing to pressure from their cadres, decided to contest the polls independently. The party that wins the highest number of ULB seats is likely to gain momentum ahead of the 2019 polls.