Bengaluru, May 12: Polling for the high-stakes Karnataka assembly elections got underway this morning under a thick security blanket. Elections are being held for 222 out of the 224 Assembly constituencies.
Police have made elaborate security arrangements for the smooth conduct of polls that will go on till 6 pm. Counting of votes will take place on May 15.
The Congress is fighting to retain Karnataka, one of the last major states where it is in power. The BJP, which is on an expansionist mode having won 22 states on its own or through allies, is desperate to win Karnataka. For the JD(S), which has positioned itself as a regional party, this election is a litmus test for its very survival as it has been out of power for a decade now.
Total voters comprise 2.56 crore men, 2.50 crore women and 5,055 transgenders. Voting will take place in 58,008 polling stations, with 1.40 lakh security personnel deployed to ensure law and order. Director General and Inspector General of Police Neelmani N Raju said elaborate security arrangements have been made for conducting free and fair elections in the state.
In a first, women personnel will manage 600 polling stations called Sakhi (pink booths). Also, 28 ethnic polling stations have been set up in places where the tribal population is high. Kodagu has the highest tribal population of 3,350.
It is a general holiday on Saturday for public offices. Employees, both permanent and contractual, working in commercial and industrial establishments will be eligible to avail leave to cast their vote.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a mobile app called Chunavana, which will help voters locate their polling stations and also know real-time data on the queue.
Polling in the Jayanagar constituency has been put off following the death of incumbent legislator and BJP candidate B N Vijay Kumar. Polling in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency will be held on May 28, following the seizure of 9,000 voter cards.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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