Bypolls to three Assembly seats in State passes off peacefully

Byelections to three Assembly constituencies in Karnataka  — Channapatna, Shiggaon, and Sandur — held on Wednesday passed off peacefully with an impressive average turnout of 81.8%, which is slightly higher than the average 81.2% recorded in 2023. This number is likely to change after reconciliation of numbers on Thursday.

Byelections to three Assembly constituencies in Karnataka  — Channapatna, Shiggaon, and Sandur — held on Wednesday passed off peacefully with an impressive average turnout of 81.8%, which is slightly higher than the average 81.2% recorded in 2023. This number is likely to change after reconciliation of numbers on Thursday.

While Channapatna recorded 88.80% polling, over 3 percentage points higher than in 2023, Shiggaon maintained its 2023 turnout of 80.46%, registering 80.48% in the bypolls. The poll percentage declined marginally in Sandur that recorded 76.24% this time as against 77.39% in 2023.

While voting was largely peaceful, polling was affected during the first half of the day at a few polling booths. However, brisk polling resumed in the second half. More than seven lakh voters were eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations across the three constituencies.

In the morning, as booths opened at 7 a.m., people started arriving at the polling booths, especially in Channapatna. Many senior citizens, some in wheelchairs, were seen lining up to cast their votes to avoid the rush later.

A few residents at Dandinpet in Savanur, Shiggaon constituency, boycotted polling in protest against not being given records of their occupancy rights, despite attempts by the authorities to convince them. 

At Siddapura polling station of Sandur, polling was affected for the first three hours as villagers were busy attending a jatra (village festival). But they got back to vote later, pointed out Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer for Karnataka.

A total of 45 candidates are in the fray in the byelections, necessitated after former Chief Ministers H.D. Kumaraswamy and Basavaraj Bommai, and Congress’s E. Tukaram were elected as members of the Lok Sabha; they held the Channapatna, Shiggaon, and Sandur Assembly seats, respectively.