The Hindu : Karnataka News : Simultaneous polls fail to draw more voters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Simultaneous polls fail to draw more voters

By Our Staff Correspondent

HASSAN, APRIL 27. The belief that the voter turnout will be high if elections were held simultaneously to the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha was belied this time.

The delay in setting up of electronic voting machines (EVMs), technical snags, making voters identity card mandatory, and complaints of names missing from the voters' list were cited as the reasons for the fall in polling

percentage in most of the Assembly segments.

Compared to the polling percentage of 1999 elections in which

the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, and the senior Congress leader, G. Puttaswamy Gowda, contested, the voter turnout this time fell by 2.98 per cent.

While 73.37 per cent polling was recorded in the Hassan Lok Sabha Constituency in 1999, the percentage was 70.39 this time. But the percentage in the Legislative Assembly election was 70.39 as against 70.28 in the previous election.

Gandsi, a sensitive Assembly constituency, recorded the highest polling percentage of 77.80, Hassan recorded the lowest of 61.86 per cent in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Following is the polling percentage recorded in the other Assembly segments in the district (the corresponding figures pertaining to the 1999 elections have been given in brackets): Belur - 69.08 (69.49),

Arsikere - 67.04 (71.10), Gandsi - 77.80 (76.29), Shravanabelagola - 69.10 (73.45), Holenarsipur - 75.05 (79.77), Arkalgud - 75.07 (79.59), Hassan - 61.86 (65.59), and Sakleshpur -71.92 (73.42).

EVMs developed technical snags at several places in Holenarsipur

Constituency. A. Dodde Gowda, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, had to wait for two hours at Annechaakanahalli of Holenarsipur Constituency before he could vote.

The same was the case at Lakkur. People staged protests in J.C. Pura of Arsikere taluk when the EVM there developed snags. The BJP leaders sought re-polling in that booth. In a few places, polling officers reportedly helped the people cast their votes.

H.M. Vishwanath, Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from Sakleshpur Assembly Constituency, lodged his protest against the apathy of officials in taking action against the Congress worker who were allegedly obstructing polling process at Hunise, Kamathi, and Samudravalli villages of Alur taluk.

The District Congress Committee (DCC) General Secretary, Hari Gopal, was seriously injured when a few people threw stones at him protesting against their names missing from the electoral roll at Aaladahalli in Salagame hobli.

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