The Congress and BJP will lock horns on the electoral battleground again today Karnataka, as the stage is set for the second phase of elections in the 14 remaining Lok Sabha seats on Tuesday.
It is going to be a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Parliamentary segments in the northern districts. The JD(S) is not contesting in these seats and is supporting its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner -- the BJP.
1. Chikkodi
2. Belgaum
3. Bagalkot
4. Bijapur
5. Gulbarga
6. Raichur
7. Bidar
8. Koppal
9. Bellary
10. Haveri
11. Dharwad
12. Uttara Kannada
13. Davangere
14. Shimoga
A government school headmaster and an assistant agriculture officer, deployed on election duty, died due to heart attack in Bagalkot and Bidar districts on Monday.
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Polling for the Lok Sabha election for Chikkodi and Belgaum parliamentary constituencies began at brisk pace on Tuesday.
Scorching summer resulted in many of the voters reaching polling centre's early. Morning walker's arrived directly to the polling stations with their identity cards to cast their votes and prevent waiting under son as day progressed. Senior citizens too arrived at the polling stations early in the city.
Presiding officers in the presence of agents of political parties and candidates conducted mock polling to ensure that the EVMs were working normally.
Voting begins at 7:00 am and concludes at 6:00 pm. The prevailing heatwave conditions and the lack of pre-monsoon rains have added to the challenges. Political parties have been requesting voters to turn up at the polling booths early to avoid the afternoon heat.
Credit: DH Photo/S K Dinesh
Credit: DH Photo/S K Dinesh
Speaking to media, Vijayendra said, "We have already condemned this act. BJP never supports this kind of attitude, this kind of activity. But the manner in which the Congress party is using it, had the Congress party wished, they could have stopped Prajwal Revanna from leaving the country. But Congress didn't do it...They were waiting for the timing. So, Congress has nothing to do with the issue, Congress wants to politicise it."
Voting began in Davangere Lok Sabha constituency at 7:00 am. People stand in a queue in the polling booth at Bhanuvalli village.
Voters young and old line up to vote for Lok Sabha 2024 elections in Shivamogga constituency.
Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP parliamentary board member BS Yediyurappa exuded confidence that BJP would win 25 seats in the state.
Speaking to media persons after casting his vote, he said BY Raghavendra would win the Shimoga seat by a margin of more than two lakh votes.
Chikkodi: 10.81%
Belgaum: 9.48%
Bagalkot: 8.59%
Bijapur: 9.26%
Gulbarga: 8.71%
Raichur: 8.27%
Bidar: 8.90%
Koppal: 8.79%
Bellary: 10.37%
Haveri: 8.62%
Dharwad: 9.38%
Uttara Kannada: 11.07%
Davanagere: 9.11%
Shimoga: 11.39%
Independent candidate KS Eshwarappa has accused BJP nominee and incumbent MP BY Raghavendra of circulating messages and videos on social media networking sites claiming that Eshwarappa is supporting him in the Lok Sabha polls.
Speaking to media persons after casting his vote, on Tuesday, he said he had not seen such heinous tactics in his political career.
Probably sensing BJP would suffer defeat in Lok Sabha poll in Shimoga, Raghavendra has resorted to such shady tactics, Eshwarapa charged.
Eshwarappa, who is also former deputy chief minister, exuded confidence that he would win the Shimoga seat by a margin of two lakh votes.
If Karnataka state govt filed FIR and informed centre on time, we would have detained Prajwal Revanna: Pralhad Joshi
Get live updates of Lok Sabha 2024 coverage here
Voter turn out at Belgaum and Chikkodi stand at 22.62% and 26.98%, respectively till 11:00 am
Chikkodi: 27.23%
Belgaum: 23.91%
Bagalkot: 23.80%
Bijapur: 23.91%
Gulbarga: 22.64%
Raichur: 22.05%
Bidar: 22.33%
Koppal: 24.64%
Bellary: 26.45%
Haveri: 24.24%
Dharwad: 24.00%
Uttara Kannada: 27.65%
Davanagere: 23.73%
Shimoga: 27.22%
Holige, a popular sweet dish of Karnataka, is being prepared, for the lunch of poll officials in Davangere district.
Urban segments covering Hubballi city in the Dharwad parliamentary constituency recorded the highest polling rate in the first four hours, while the entire constituency recorded 24 per cent polling rate.
From 7:00 am to 11:00 am, urban segments of Hubballi-Dharwad East, and Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituencies had 26.66 per cent, and 26.21 per cent polling respectively. The turnout was 25.8 per cent in Dharwad, 24.97 per cent in Hubballi-Dharwad West, 23.97 per cent in Kalghatgi, 23.21 per cent in Navalgund, 21.17 per cent in Shiggaon, and 18. 69 per cent in Kundgol.
People headed to the voting station early to avoid inconvenience due to the high temperature at noon. It is seen as the reason for the good polling rate in the morning in the city.
BS Yediyurappa and family including BY Vijayendra ( Karnataka BJP president) and Shimoga Lok Sabha BJP candidate BY Raghavendra cast their vote in Shikaripura.
Belagavi: An EVM became defunct for the third time since the commencement of polling at polling station No 211 (Kittur assembly segment) which comes under the Uttar Kannada parliamentary constituency on Tuesday.
Voters in large numbers had been waiting in queue for the poll officials to fix the EVM.
EVM issue was also reported at polling station No 215 and the sector officer changed it and facilitated voting to commence.
Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency recorded 22.63 per cent voter turnout till 11:00 am.
With the temperature hovering around 44 degrees Celsius, more people preferred to cast their vote in the morning to avoid the sweltering heat on Tuesday.
So far, the polling has passed off peacefully except for technical problems with electronic voting machines in some booths.
Meanwhile, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and his wife Radhabai have exercised their franchise at Basavanagar Kannada Higher Primary School in Brahmapur layout here. District In-charge Minister Priyank Kharge, his wife Shruti Kharge and Congress candidate Radhakrishna Doddamani have cast their votes at Gundagarthi Government Higher Primary School in Chittapur assembly constituency.
Polling is expected to increase in the evening after the weather cools down later in the day.
"Truth has to come out. DK Shivakumar had said that Kumaraswamy you cannot win. On 26th April, elections concluded (second phase). Still, no action has been taken against anyone. On 26th April, a letter was written to CM by Nagalakshmi Chowdhary, chairperson of Karnataka State Commission for Women, mentioning "powerful leaders involving in it." On 28th, a complaint was prepared and typed in Bengaluru and sent to Holenarasipura and FIR was lodged there, no issues with that. So, CM formed the SIT quickly. I understanding what's happening. I thought SIT would do free and fair investigation. But I readied it's not special investigation team, it's a Siddaramaiah investigation team and Shivakumar investigation team," said HD Kumaraswamy
"This Karnataka govt does not want a fair inquiry. Nothing is going to happen ultimately. They wanted the character assassination of HD Revanna and for that reason, they are using their office...With all documentary evidence, we are going to submit a memorandum to the Governor to take action against this govt. The way this inquiry is going on, it seems this is not Special Investigation Team but Siddaramaiah/Shivakumar Investigation Team..." said Former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on obscene video leak case
As many as 96 members of the Koppad family cast their votes at Noolvi village in Hubballi Rural taluk on Tuesday.
Chikkodi: 45.69%
Belgaum: 40.57%
Bagalkot: 41.91%
Bijapur: 39.87%
Gulbarga: 37.48%
Raichur: 38.06%
Bidar: 37.97%
Koppal: 42.74%
Bellary: 44.36%
Haveri: 43.26%
Dharwad: 40.61%
Uttara Kannada: 44.22%
Davanagere: 42.32%
Shimoga: 44.98%
T R Hugar and family members show their inked finger after casting their votes at Nandigavi in Harihar taluk of Davangere district.
Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) committee has asked voters to send photos featuring a minimum of 20 persons after exercising their franchise to win prizes.
Chikkodi: 59.65%
Belgaum: 53.85%
Bagalkot: 54.95%
Bijapur: 49.88%
Gulbarga: 47.67%
Raichur: 49.04%
Bidar: 49.89%
Koppal: 55.06%
Bellary: 56.76%
Haveri: 58.45%
Dharwad: 55.00%
Uttara Kannada: 55.98%
Davanagere: 57.31%
Shimoga: 57.96%
Out of the 14 constituencies, the highest turnout of 59.65% was recorded in Chikkodi, followed by Shimoga 57.96%, and least was 47.67% in Gulbarga.
Chikkodi: 72.75%
Belgaum: 65.67%
Bagalkot: 65.55%
Bijapur: 60.95%
Gulbarga: 57.20%
Raichur: 59.48%
Bidar: 60.17%
Koppal: 66.05%
Bellary: 68.94%
Haveri: 71.90%
Dharwad: 67.15%
Uttara Kannada: 69.57%
Davanagere: 70.90%
Shimoga:72.07%
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Tuesday accused BJP leaders of distributing money to the voters through the digital payment in Chittapur and Sedam assembly constituencies.
In a post on X, he attached a list of 20 voters allegedly prepared by the BJP along with their phone numbers to make payment through the PhonePe. The phone numbers are erased in the list.
The minister stated that he will file a complaint with more evidence of such transactions to the Election Commission. He also alleged that BJP’s Karnataka unit is taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s digital payment mission to the next level through bribing the voters directly using PhonePe. He has attached the payment receipt of Rs 350 distributed to two voters.
With 66.05% polling by 5 pm, turnout in 14 parliamentary constituencies spread over north Karnataka followed the pattern seen in Phase 2 elections. Hourly trends showed no major changes till 5 pm.
The 5 pm data put Gulbarga at lowest (57.2%), followed by Raichur (59.48%), while the rest of the constituencies crossed the 60% mark. Chikkodi led the list with 72.75%, followed by Shimoga (72.07%), Haveri (71.90%) and Davangere (70.90%).