Karnataka - Madikeri   

Polling peaceful in Kodagu, rain plays spoilsport

Waiting for their turn: Voters at a booth at Madapur in Kodagu where polling was held on Saturday.

Madikeri: Polling was peaceful in Kodagu on Saturday. The district registered an average of 60 per cent polling.

The voter turnout was low in the morning in most of booths in the two constituencies. However, it picked up at noon. Braving the scorching heat, people lined up in many polling booths to exercise their franchise.

The district registered 51per cent polling by 3 p.m. Because of the heavy downpour many voters were stranded.

Deputy Commissioner K.R. Niranjan, who is also the district election officer, told The Hindu that polling percentage would have gone up if the rain had not disturbed the process.

Madikeri approximately recorded 62 per cent polling, while in the Virajpet constituency, it was around 58 per cent, he said.

Kodagu registered 66.92 per cent voting in the 2004 elections in the three Assembly segments. It was lowest in Virajpet (59.02), followed by Madikeri (67.70) and Somwarpet (72.63).

The police prevented a clash between Congress and BJP workers at Bychanahalli polling booth near Kushalnagar over a petty issue. At Hakke village near Kanive in Somwarpet taluk in Madikeri constituency, residents desisted from voting till 4 p.m.

A group of women staged a dharna in front of the market yard in Kushalnagar seeking residential sites They said that they were boycotting the election as the elected representatives had ignored their demand.

They alleged that the police stopped their efforts to pitch tent on a piece of revenue land opposite the market yard. Election Public Relations Officer Vinodchandra, who spoke to Mr. Niranjan over telephone, told the protesters that their pleas would be looked into by the district administration. Following this, they agreed to take part in the election process.

Polling was incident-free in most of the 454 booths in Kodagu. No arrest was made, Superintendent of Police, Sandeep Patil, said.

Rain in the afternoon disrupted polling at Siddapur, Gonicoppa and Ponnampet. Trees crashed snapping electricity and telephone lines. Contact between the election officers and those in the polling booths failed because of this.

The voter turnout was encouraging in Valnur, Nanjarayapatna, Guddehosur, Engilgere, Siddapur, Kushalnagar, Nellihudikeri, Virajpet, Gonicoppa, Ponnampet, Ammathi, Shirangala, Torenur, Madapur, Jamboor, Kumboor, Sunticoppa, Kedakkal.

Congress candidate for Madikeri B.A. Jivijaya cast his vote at Biligeri, while his opponent M.P. Appachu Ranjan of the BJP did so at Jumboor. Veena Achaiah of the Congress exercised her franchise at Mukkodlu.

The former Minster M.C. Nanaiah cast his vote in Madikeri.

There are 3,71,056 voters in Kodagu of whom, 1,84,329 are women.

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Polling peaceful in Kodagu, rain plays spoilsport

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