Voters decide fate of 58 candidates today

Mangaluru: 58 candidates will fight for eight Assembly seats in Dakshina Kannada. Polling in 1,858booths will take place between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. There are 17.11 lakh voters, including 100transgenders who are voting for the first time.

The constituencies in the district are Mangaluru, Mangaluru City South, Mangaluru City North, Moodbidri, Bantwal, Belthangady, Puttur and Sullia.

B. Ramanath Rai, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada and minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology; and U.T. Khader, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, are in the race for the seat in Bantwal and Mangaluru constituencies, respectively.

While Congress and the BJP are contesting in all the constituencies, Janata Dal (Secular) has fielded candidates in only five constituencies. It is not contesting in Mangaluru City North, Bantwal and Sullia.

The Communist Party of India (Marxists) is fighting only in four constituencies: Mangaluru City North, Mangaluru City South, Mangaluru and Moodbidri.

Congress and BJP have fielded their candidates in all 8 constituencies. Though major political parties stayed silent over Yettinahole project , activists did rake it up a couple of times. BJP kept out D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister for Programme Implementation and Statistics, from active campaigning in the district, and Congress kept away M. Veerappa Moily, former Union Minister and now MP, from the campaign. However, Sadananda Gowda did come in for a brief campaign in Sullia constituency. Both these politicians are not favored by environmentalists becausethey supported the Yettinahole project. Activists have been alleged that the two leaders were responsible for the implementation of Yettinahole project in the first place.

The two leaders did not participate in the rallies in Bantwal, Mangaluru, Mangaluru City North andMangaluru City South where the activists stepped up their campaign.