Karnataka - Hubli   

Cheerful mood around counting centres

By Girish S. Pattanashetti

HUBLI, MARCH 1. There was no festival but there was a sort of a festive atmosphere. There were makeshift canteens, vendors of fruits, "gulal", fried groundnuts and the like. While some persons moved about in a hurried manner, others were squatting discussing various issues.

Amid them were some youngsters who seemed to be in a buoyant mood. There were curious women too who watched the proceedings with their eyes wide open.

This was the scene at the Karnatak Agriculture Marketing Board's Printing and Publishing Wing at Bhairidevarakoppa, Hubli, where counting of votes of the gram panchayat elections in Hubli taluk was taking place.

By the time the officials started counting votes at 8 a.m., the villagers clad in their traditional attire had flocked the place. They grew in number as the day passed.

Though initially there were no party flags, as the results started coming in leaders of various political parties started to wave the flags.

Soon there was bursting of crackers and slogan shouting. Jubilant youngsters danced joyously, smearing "gulal" on each other's faces.

Such scenes were reported from the Model Central School, Kalghatgi, Model High School, Navalgund and Haribhatta High School, Kundagol where counting of votes was held.

The police had made elaborate security arrangements as a precautionary measure.

But counting was slow with the results of only five gram panchayats being announced by 5 p.m. "Ticking of the number of votes won by each candidate was consuming much time and this had resulted in slow counting,'' said V.R. Yeradkeri, Tahsildar of Hubli taluk told The Hindu.

Pyrrhic

Meanwhile, victory proved to be pyrrhic for Mehboobi Mabusab Haliyala of Hiregunjal village of Kundagol taluk in Dharwad district.

For, when the result of the keenly contested poll was announced on Tuesday, she was not there to rejoice. She died the previous night.

Polling was held on Sunday.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Water supply in Dharwad, Hubli
Cheerful mood around counting centres
Power shutdown

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu