From Our Special Correspondent
Pics: Silvester D'Souza / Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru/Udupi/Kundapur
Bengaluru/Udupi/Kundapur, Feb 19: The second and final phase of polling to Karnataka’s Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat Elections in 15 districts, including coastal Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, will be held on Saturday.
Polling would be held from 7 am to 5 pm.
All the political parties have fielded their candidates in ZP/TP constituencies.
Polling would be held to 530 ZP seats and 1936 TP seats.
The districts that are going to polls in the second phase are: Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagalur, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajangar, Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Vijayapura.
All districts are set to witness a triangular contest between the ruling Congress, and Opposition BJP and JD(S) candidates.
A total of 2,159 candidates, including Congress, BJP and JD(S) are contesting ZP elections.
A total of 6457 candidates are in the fray for 1936 TP seats.
Candidates in one ZP seat and three TP seats have been declared elected unopposed.
The State Election Commission has directed employees in private firms to provide time for employees to cast their votes.
All government establishments in the 15 districts going to polling would remain closed. All arrangements have been made to hold elections peacefully, authorities said.
A total of 74.37 per cent of voting was recorded in the first phase of polling.
Counting for both the first and second phase would be held on Tuesday in all taluk headquarters.
In Dakshina Kannada, there are a total of 1,166 polling booths and 10,48,897 voters. As many as 361 candidates are contesting for 136 taluk panchayat seats and 116 candidates are in the fray for 36 zilla panchayat seats.
Out of the 1,166 polling booths, 221 are hypersensitive and 422 are sensitive. As many as 2,681 will be used for polling in the district.
In Udupi taluk, elections will be held for 26 zilla panchayat seats for which 72 candidates are in the fray. A total of 223 candidates have stood for elections in Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala taluk.
The Udupi district has 7,93,523 voters. There are 926 polling booths in Udupi district out of which 356 are in Kundapur, 394 in Udupi taluk and 186 in Karkala. Among them, 695 are identified as normal, 136 sensitive, 56 hypersensitive and 54 are Naxal-affected. Tight security is in plaec in Naxal-affected areas. As many as 2,400 police personnel have been deployed in Udupi district.
In Kundapur, polling will be held for 37 taluk panchayat and 10 zilla panchayat seats. There are 3,09,146 voters in all. BJP and Congress candidates are contesting in all the 37 taluk panchayats. Also, 7 JD(S), 11 CPIM, 1 SDPI and 11 independents are in the fray. Congress and BJP candidates will also contest for all the 10 zilla panchayat seats.
Out of 356 polling booths in Kundapur taluk, 56 are sensitive, 13 hypersensitive and 27 are Naxal-affected. Every voter is allowed to vote separately for zilla panchayat and taluk panchayat elections. Two EVM machines will be kept in each booth. The election commission and police department are trying their best to ensure peaceful elections.