Shivamogga: As the phase II election commenced today, i.e., on Tuesday, April 23 at 7 AM, the electorates across the district rushed to the polling booths to cast their votes.
The Bharatiya Jananta Party (BJP) state President and Leader of the Opposition, B S Yeddyurappa, his two sons, BY Vijayendra and BJP candidate for Shivamogga constituency, B Y Raghavendra along with his wife Thejaswini cast their votes at the polling booth in Shikaripura Tahsildar office.
Senior BJP leader and former chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council, D H Shankaramurthy, along with his family members cast his vote at Sai Mandir in Basavanagudi. Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council, K S Eshwarappa along with his family members, voted at Government Pre-University College.
Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition candidate Madhu Bangarappa and his family cast their votes in Kabaturu Government School. Former legislator K B Prasanna Kumar and his wife voted in Ashoknagar polling booth.
Verbal skirmish at Sominakoppa
An incident of verbal skirmish has been reported from polling booth No. 12. The BJP and coalition party workers had a confrontation due to the malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). The EVM is now replaced and the situation is under control.
Withdrawal from voting
The people of Dhoddamatti village in Kumsi had banned voting stating that the village had been deprived of basic necessities. The villagers agreed to vote only after Kumsi police station Sub Inspector Jagadeesh visited the village and requested them to cast their votes.
However, people of Ambedkar Nagar in Malligean Halli refused to vote citing government’s failure to provide basic facilities to their village.