By-poll: Voting underway in three Assembly segments in Karnataka

Voting is underway for by-polls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka on Wednesday, election officials said.

 

The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm.

 

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates are in the fray.

 

By-polls to Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna constituencies are necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives — E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) — to Lok Sabha in May elections.

 

Thirty one candidates are in the fray from Channapatna, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.

 

Police have made elaborate security arrangements in the three segments for the smooth conduct of the polls.

 

The by-polls will witness a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S) which is part of the NDA alliance is in contest against the grand old party.

 

Among the three segments, Channapatna is considered to be a “high profile”, where the contest is between C P Yogeeshwara, a five time MLA from the segment and former Minister, who joined the Congress quitting BJP ahead of nomination, and actor-turned -politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is Kumaraswamy’s son and former PM H D Deve Gowda’s grandson.

 

There were plans to field Yogeeshwara on a JD(S) ticket, but he was not interested in it, and instead wanted Kumaraswamy to support him as BJP candidate, which was not acceptable to the latter and his party, following which he joined Congress.

 

BJP’s Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai, is fighting Congress Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former Chief Minister in the 2023 Assembly polls, in Shiggaon.

 

Intitally, former MLA Syed Azeempeer Khadri, a Congress’ ticket aspirant, had raised a banner of revolt by filing his nomination as an independent, but later withdrew after intervention by party leadership.

 

In Sandur, Bellary MP Tukaram’s wife E Annapurna of Congress is contesting from the seat vacated by her husband, against, BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu, who is considered close to party leader and former mining barron G Janardhan Reddy.

 

The campaigning was marked by personal attacks by political leaders against each other, the MUDA scam charges against the CM, allegations of corruption in Valmiki Corporation and excise department, and issues around the inquiry report on alleged irregularities in the purchase of equipment and medicines during the Covid-19 recommending prosecution of the BJP Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and former minister B Sriramulu.