An employee gets his finger inked before casting his vote for Lok Sabha polls through postal ballots, in Chikmagalur. (Representative image)
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: Dingaleshwar Mahaswamigalu, who had caused consternation for the BJP in Dharwad, was among the 45 candidates who withdrew from the fight while saffron party rebel BJP K S Eshwarappa and Congress ticket aspirant G B Vinay Kumar stayed put, adding spice to the contest in Shimoga and Davanger for the Lok Sabha elections.
Monday was the last day for the withdrawal of the nominations. As per the release by the Chief Electoral Officer, 227 candidates have remained in the fray for the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in northern Karnataka going to the polls under Phase 3 on May 7.
At 30 candidates, Davangere has the highest number of persons seeking to represent it in the Parliament. It is followed by Shimoga (23), Bagalkot (22) and Koppal (19). At the bottom are Gulbarga and Bijapur each having eight candidates in the contest.
Seizures at Rs 407 crore
Election officials seized cash and valuables worth Rs 3.34 crore in the 24 hours prior to Monday evening, taking the total amount of seized materials to 406.73 crore.
The Rs 2.45 crore cash seized from APMC Market in Chamarajpet falling under Bangalore Central constituency and Rs 50 lakh in cash seized from Basavana Bagewadi in Bijapur constituency were among the incidents.
Among the 26816 complaints received by the officials are 188 plaints regarding distribution of money, 148 for distribution of liquor and 128 for distribution of gifts/coupons. The election officials have registered 2016 FIRs with regard to the seizures.
Six candidates in Shorapur bypoll
Apart from Raja Venugopal Naik of the Congress and Narasimha Nayak of the BJP, four other candidates are in the by-election to the Shorapur Assembly segment.
Venugopal Naik has declared assets worth Rs 13.35 crore while Narasimha Nayak has disclosed valuables to the tune of Rs 14.77 crore.