Bangalore: Brisk Polling Reported in State - 3 CMs' Future Sealed in Ballot Box

Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (GA)

Bangalore, Apr 24: In a unique feature the political future of three former chief ministers of the state was sealed in ballot box as voters from 17 constituencies from across the state exercised their franchise on Thursday April 24.  Former chief minister Dharam Singh, M Veerappa Moily and H D Kumarswamy's bid to enter the corridors of Indian parliament will has already been decided by voters of Bidar, Chikkaballapur and Bangalore rural by casting their vote.

All in all brisk polling was reported in all 17 constituencies. Polling was peaceful and voters turned out in big numbers to exercise their right. Since holiday was declared for all government as well as private firms, voters were seen queuing up with zest to decide the fate of political stalwarts.

Out of the 28 parliamentary constituencies, polling was held in Gulbarga, Bidar, Bijapur, Raichur, Chikodi, Belgaum, Koppala-Bellary, Uttara Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Chikkaballapur, Bangalore North, Bangalore South, Bangalore Central, Bangalore rural and Kolar constituencies.

Other than these top three guns, senior leaders such as Ananth Kumar, Mallikarjun Kharge, C K Jaffer Shareif, Margaret Alva, K H Muniappa, Iqbal Ansari, Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli and some of the young turks such as Krisha Byregowda, C P Yogeshwar, H T Sangliana, Tejaswini Gowda, Jameer Ahmed and Ananth Kumar Hegde too will be testing their fortune on Thursday. In all there are 271 candidates in the fray. In almost all the constituencies it is a triangular fight with Congress, BJP and JD (S) fighting it out to emerge victorious. However, in Bellary and Chikodi it is two-way tussle between Congress and BJP since JD (S) has decided not to field candidates so that the secular votes are not divided.

The elections have generated a lot of interest among the voters since it is for the first time that Lok Sabha elections are held in the state after the delimitation process was completed just before the last assembly polls, just about a year ago. While BJP which is ruling the state is proclaiming that that the tilt is on their side, Congress has left no stone unturned to prove BJP wrong. It has even fielded its top and senior leaders who were hitherto limited only to state politics. But JD (S) has vowed it to make it difficult for both BJP and Congress by fielding party stalwarts.