Voting is currently underway at the Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly constituencies of Karnataka. Around 2.01 lakh voters in Nanjangud and 2.04 lakh in Gundlupet will decide the fate of the candidates on Sunday.
Polling began at 7 am across 236 booths in Nanjangud and 250 booths in Gundlupet. No complaints of tampering or malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or the newly introduced voter verifiable print audit trail (VVPAT) machines were reported.
The Nanjangud bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Srinivas Prasad, a popular Dalit face in the state, who left Congress and joined BJP in January this year after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dropped him from Cabinet in 2016. Prasad is contesting the bypoll on BJP's ticket against Congress' Kalale Keshavmurthy, who has a strong hold over the constituency and could give Prasad a tough fight.
Former Minister HS Mahadev Prasad's widow Geetha Mahadev Prasad is contesting the elections on Congress ticket against Niranjan Kumar of BJP in Gundlupet. Congress is hoping to ride on the sympathy wave following the death of HS Mahadev, who was a hugely popular leader there.
Meanwhile, BJP Karnataka president BS Yeddyurappa was caught on camera bribing a woman in Chamrajnagar district ahead of the bypolls. NDTV reported that the leader was caught handing over a bundle of Rs 2,000 notes to a woman, allegedly the widow of a farmer who had committed suicide. Following the incident, the Congress Party called on the Election Commission to take strict action against the BJP leader.
The BJP is looking for a victory in Karnataka elections scheduled to take place in 2018. The results of the bypolls could set the stage for the next battle between Congress and the saffron party in the state.
