Inchara Udupi
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Updated

Udupi, Apr 24: The newly-formed Kaup town municipal council (TMC) which went to polls for the first time on Sunday April 24 saw a good voter turnout of 75 percent by the end of the day. The polling was largely peaceful.

The TMC, which was recently formed, comprises Kaup, Uliyargoli and Mallar villages.

In all, the TMC has 23 wards for which 58 candidates are in the fray. Among the 58, 23 are from Congress, 23 from BJP, 5 from JD(S), 4 from SDPI and 3 are Independents. The TMC has 16,212 voters.

Out of the 23 wards, 11 are identified as sensitive. As many as 161 people have been given the election duty.

The voting that began early morning went on till 5 pm. EVMs were used for polling. Incidentally, there was no NOTA option this time.

The election officials seized a vehicle belonging to SDPI party workers near Moolur CSI Unity School. At Polipu in Kaup, a minor alteraction erupted after suspicion arose about the presence of outsiders in the polling booth.

The voters lined up at the polling booths with much enthusiasm to elect their representatives in the first-ever election of the Kaup TMC. Except for a few petty arguments here and there, the polling went on smoothly and peacefully.

Udupi SP Annamalai visted all the polling booths to oversee the arrangements. Over a hundred police personnel including Karkala ASP Suman, Kaup circle inspector Sunil Nayak, DCB circle inspector Ratan Kumar, Kaup SI Jagadish Reddy, Padubidri SI Azmat Ali, Shirva SI Johnson D'Souza, Hebri SI Sitaram, Karkala town SI Krishnamurthy and others ensured security.

BJP candidate meets with accident: Jagadish Acharya, BJP candidate for Koppalangady ward, met with an accident in front of Kaup Marigudi temple. It is learnt that a two-wheeler hit the Kinetic that Acharya was riding. He was rushed to Manipal hospital and is recovering.

District in-charge minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, former MLA Lalaji R Mendon, and leaders of Congress, BJP and JD(S) thanked the voters, officials and leaders of different parties for ensuring smooth and fair elections.

The counting will be held on April 27.