Karnataka   

These girls just made it in time

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

In a hurry: Voters rushing to the polling booths to exercise their franchise before the deadline, in Ramanagara district on Saturday.

RAMANGARA: Two enthusiastic girls ran nearly 100 metres to reach their polling booth in Channapatna on time as the deadline for polling to end was nearing.

The girls who were going to the polling booth at the Government Higher Primary School in Petta area were told by the people that they had to hurry as only a few minutes were left for polling to end.

The two started running as if they had to board a bus or train. The crowd encouraged them by remarking: “Good…, run fast.” The people even clapped when the girls finally made it at 4.59 p.m.

However, not all were as lucky as these girls. An elderly woman who came by an autorickshaw minutes later was not allowed to enter the booth.

A Central security personnel closed the gate of the building and politely said: “Sorry, you are late. Please come for next elections.”

Everyone including the elderly woman burst into laughter.

Interestingly, elderly citizens, especially in rural parts of Ramanagara, turned up in large numbers to exercise their franchise. This included several octogenarians and a few nonagenarians. Ninety-year-old Doddamma of Hulibele village in Kanakapura who came to the polling booth with her 70-year-old son, said she had never missed an opportunity to vote.

There was unprecedented security in all the four Assembly segments of Ramanagara district, with both mobile and static squads of armed Central security forces guarding the booths along with the local police.

This ensured an incident-free poll. A senior police officer in Channapatna observed that this was the first time that there were no untoward incidents in the taluk during polling.

However, the missing of voters’ names in the electoral rolls became an issue. Several voters who came to the booth to exercise their franchise had to return disappointed as their names were not in the list. Some displayed their voter photo identity cards issued by the Election Commission and wondered how their names could go missing.

While polling was incident-free, a land dispute triggered a clash between two groups at Chikkenahalli village in Channapatna taluk.

Thirty-four-year-old C.T. Ramesh and his brother Ramachandre Gowda were allegedly attacked with knives and razors by a six-member gang. Mr. Ramesh, who was taken to the government hospital at Channapatna with severe injuries to his cheek and neck, said that the incident had nothing to do with the polls. Channapatna Rural circle inspector Subramanya said the police would register a case.

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