The Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha by-poll was held peacefully on Sunday, and none of the 1,633 polling booths in two districts reported any untoward incidents.
The Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha by-poll was held peacefully on Sunday, and none of the 1,633 polling booths in two districts reported any untoward incidents. Udupi recorded a 71.98% turnout, Chikmagalur clocked 59.19%. The voter turnout across the region was 68.10%.
In the last election, the average turnout in Chikmagalur constituency was 69% while that of Udupi was 68%. However, this time, the turnout was lower after the two districts were clubbed as a part of 2007 delimitation exercise. The low turnout is due to the unscientific blending of two different geographical regions to make one political boundary, said a voter.
“The Congress and BJP fielded candidates from coastal areas—Sunil Kumar of Karkala and Jayaprakash Hegde from Udupi. If the parties were intelligent, they should have alternated between candidates belonging to two regions,” said a voter in Someshwara, which borders Udupi and Chikmagalur
districts.
Voters in coastal areas had a different theory. “This time, the elections were thrust on the people due to the turmoil in the ruling party, and mismanagement of party and government affairs,” said Narayana, a driver from Nadpal village in Karkala.
Govinda Kulal, 80, at Hardalli grama panchayat was more forthcoming. He said: “These elections have lost their meaning. It appears like the poll is being held for the welfare of a few politicians than for the people. In my village, we do not even have drinking water and streetlights. All the appeals made by us to our MPs and MLA have fallen on deaf ears. I heard there is yet another election next year. I pray that I be spared from voting once again”.
Fortified booths; no Naxal threat
About 78 booths identified as super-sensitive by DGP Shankar M Bidari were heavily fortified. Gunmen stood guard at the booths.
Each booth had eight BSF jawans, three policemen and the Anti-Naxal Squad. Inspector general of police (western range) Pratap Reddy said: “The elections were incident- free, except for two complaints filed by the BJP and a counter-complaint filed by the Congress in Udupi and Kaup constituencies.”
Reddy said he is glad that almost 70% turnout was recorded in the so-called Naxal-infested areas. “The special SMS service that we launched has been extensively used as we sent some 8,000 SMSes to officers and they sent back 6,400 SMSes, keeping the officials updated on each by-poll activity,” said Reddy.
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