60% voters brave the chill; panchayat polls in Bangalore peaceful

The cold wave sweeping across Karnataka failed to deter voters from exercising their franchise in Sunday’s zilla and taluk panchayat elections.

About 60% of the voters turned up at their booths to register their preferences in the first phase of the panchayat elections in 12 districts of the state, including Bangalore Urban and Rural districts, according to preliminary estimates.

The polling was by and large peaceful, except for stray incidents of group clashes.

Neighbouring Chikkaballapur district recorded the highest polling of 70%, while Bangalore Urban district disappointed with just 50% ending up at the bottom of the table. The newly carved out Yadgir district polled 55%.

The polling, which started on a sedate note in the morning in most of the polling booths, picked up pace as the day wore on. Violation of the model code of conduct was evident at several booths in Hoskote, Attibele and Thinnasandra in Bangalore Rural district.

Children were seen being used to campaign for political parties just outside the booths. Pavan TP, a class V student, and his eight friends were seen campaigning for the  BJP candidate at Thinnasandra, Hoskote taluk.

Mass cooking was in full throttle to keep voters sated at several villages. Biriyani and vegetable pulav were on the menu. In Kannasandra village, biriyani was served for the entire village, a mere 20 metres away from the polling booth.

Congress and BJP workers traded blows as the former raised objections to a BJP worker wooing a visually-impaired man in Attibele village.

Police had to resort to lathi-charge at Ulavadi village in Kolar district to disperse two clashing groups. The verbal duel between the supporters of a Congress zilla panchayat candidate and a rebel Congress candidate soon turned into a clash.