Hubballi-Dharwad, Belagavi and Kalaburagi city corporation polls in Karnataka underway

Bengaluru: Voting for Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, and Kalaburagi city corporations is underway. Over 17 lakh voters will decide the fate of 1,318 candidates contesting from 252 wards. Counting will take place on September 6.

Voting began at 7 AM for 252 wards across seven urban local bodies and they include city corporations of Belagavi (58 wards), Hubballi-Dharwad (82), Kalaburagi (55), along with the Doddaballapur City Municipal Council (31), Tarikere Town Municipal Council (23), Bidar City Municipal Council (2) and Bhadravathi City Municipal Council (1).

According to the commission, there are over 14.01 lakh eligible voters in 252 wards, with the highest being in Hubballi-Dharwad – 8.11 lakh.

Elections are being held as the term of some of these local bodies has ended and due to orders of the High Court, the Commission has said.

Belagavi city corporation witnesses poll based on party symbols after 25 years. It used to see elections on language basis like Kannada, Marathi, and Urdu candidates. It is set for a triangular fight among BJP, Congress and MES backed candidate. Belagavi registers 6.54% polling till 9 am

In Hubballi, Karnataka Rashtra Samiti members staged a protest alleging police act in favor of BJP workers in Ward-52. Also, polling was halted in 5 booths of Gamanagatti village in Hubballi due to the unavailability of VVPATS. Polling percentage stands at 19.4% in Hubballi-Dharwad till 10 am.

In Kalaburagi, Smaller parties like JDS, AAP, and AIMIM are the major highlights. As many as 300 candidates are in the poll fray for 55 wards of the city corporation. Last elections, Congress came to power with the support of the Independents. However, this year, after the loss of former minister late Qamar-ul-Islam, his supporters have joined AIMIM and JDS, after they were denied tickets.

As many as 7,000 police and 6,500 staff are deployed for the HDMC election being held after 8 years.