Karnataka Election: Violence Reported From 3 Places Amid Polling, EVMs Destroyed

BENGALURU: Violent incidents were reported amid the polling in the Karnataka Assembly elections from at least three places on Wednesday, said police sources.

Angry Villagers at Masabinal village in Basavana Bagewadi taluk of Vijayapura district, destroyed few electronic voting machines, VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines and damaged the vehicles of polling officers, after ‘rumours’ ran rife that the EVMs and VVPATs were being changed by poll officials.

In Bengaluru’s Padmanabhanagar constituency, some youth attacked their political rivals with sticks in a polling booth at Papaiah Garden. Going on a rampage they injured a few women who were standing in queue to vote, the sources said.

In Ballari district’s Sanjeevarayanakote, some Congress and BJP workers came to blows following an altercation.

23 people were arrested after villagers of Masabinala in Vijayapura district stopped a poll duty vehicle carrying electronic voting machines (EVMs), manhandled an officer and damaged control and ballot units on Wednesday, the Election Commission said. A section officer's vehicle carrying reserved EVMs for the Assembly elections was damaged along with two control and ballot units each and three VVPATs, the EC said in a statement.

The polling for 224 Karnataka Assembly seats began at 7 am and continued till 6 pm amid tight security, in spite of which several incidents of violence took place.

According to the Election Commission of India, 113 seats is the majority mark to form the government. This time, a total of 42,48,028 new voters have been registered to vote for the assembly elections. The high-decibel campaign for the assembly elections in Karnataka ended on Monday. The counting of votes will take place on May 13.

A voter turnout of about 37.25 per cent was recorded till 1 PM on Wednesday, in the polls to elect representatives to the 224-member State Legislative Assembly.

In the first six hours of polling, the coastal district of Udupi recorded the highest turnout of 47.79 per cent, with the the lowest polling in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) central limits (parts of Bengaluru city) at 29.41 per cent, election officials said.

A three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) is mainly being witnessed in the state. Deve Gowda, AICC president M Mallikarjun Kharge, state Congress chief D K Shivakuma, and BJP State unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel were among those who cast their ballot.

A total of around 5.3 crore electors are eligible to cast their vote in 58,545 polling stations across the state, where 2,615 candidates are in the fray.

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