By-polls to Ullal assembly constituency in Karnataka held

A voter turnout of 60.14 per cent was reported during the polling for Ullal assembly constituency in Karnataka, where by-elections were held on account of the demise of Congress MLA U T Farid.

Though polling remained by and large peaceful yesterday, malfunctioning of electronic voting machines and missing of names from the electoral list were reported from several parts of the constituency, which lies on the outskirts of Mangalore.

Congress candidate and Farid’s son U T Khader is locked in a triangular contest with BJP’s Chandrashekar Uchil and JD (S) nominee Abubakr Natekal.

Though the constituency is considered to be a pocket-borough of the Congress, which has won the seat on seven out of eight occasions, the decision of the JD (S) to field a candidate from the Muslim community has instilled hope in the BJP, which is banking on a split in the Congress party’s vote-bank.

But, the Congress party has remained confident on the grounds that Muslim voters will not waste their vote on JD (S), which has tied up with the BJP to form a coalition Government in Karnataka.

Polling began on a brisk note on Saturday with people standing in queues outside the 140 booths, braving a mild drizzle in some parts of the constituency. Ullal assembly constituency has a total of 160,862 voters, spread across both urban and rural parts.

People cast their votes under heavy deployment of security forces in the constituency, where as many as 58 booths had been identified as hypersensitive and 70 as sensitive.

Police said two persons were arrested for trying to distribute cash among voters with a view to influencing their voting. “We have received Rs 62,000 cash and a car from them”, police said.

BJP workers accused Congress candidate U T Khader of violating the poll code of conduct by speaking on the mobile phone inside a booth in Ullal town. A minor altercation took place between Khader’s supporters and BJP workers, but the police managed to control the situation and prevent it from going out of hand.

The counting of votes in the elections held yesterday will take place on June 5. The results are expected to be declared within a few hours after counting starts at 8 am as the electronic voting machines had been used for the polling.