The Hindu
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje

Mangalore, Jun 26: A total of 6,106 elected representatives of local bodies and members of the legislature and Parliament from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts will cast their votes on Thursday to elect their representative in the Legislative Council.

The elections will be held in 347 gram panchayats, eight taluk panchayats and the two zilla panchayats in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The elections are being held to fill the vacancy created by the death of Blasius M. D’Souza of the Congress, who represented the local bodies in the Council. Mr. D’Souza died on January 26 at the age of 69.

The BJP has fielded Kota Srinivas Poojary, president of the Udupi district unit of the party, while the Congress has fielded the party’s Sullia Block leader Nityananda Mundodi.

President of the Dakshina Kannada district unit of the Congress and Bantwal MLA, B. Ramanath Rai, has claimed that the party candidate has the support of 3,172 members of the panchayat and backing of 211 members from Janata Dal (Secular) and 60 members belonging to the Left parties.

However,sources said that the Congress had reasons to be worried, having lost ground in many pockets of the district in the local body elections. The BJP sources, on their part, claimed that they had made gains in the local bodies of Belthangady and Moodbidri. Many gram panchayat members had supported the party during the recent Assembly elections and this would work in their favour, they added. An official statement here said that voters should only use a purple sketch pen to mark their votes. They should mark 1 or 2 in the places provided and should use only English numerals. After voting, the ballot boxes will be kept on the premises of the Karnataka Polytechnic Training Institute, Kadri. Counting will commence at 8 a.m. on Saturday simultaneously at 10 counters.