Mandya:- In what is considered as crucial for all the three major political parties — Congress, BJP and JD(S) — with Lok Sabha (LS) polls just a few months away, the voting in the bypoll for three Lok Sabha seats and two Assembly seats began on a moderate note this morning.

This by-election is also being dubbed as a semi-final to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The polling, which began at 7 am in Ballari, Mandya and Shivamogga LS Constituencies and Ramanagara and Jamkhandi Assembly segments, will conclude at  5 pm. The counting of votes will be taken up on Nov.6.

The BJP’s last ditch attempt on Friday seeking postponement of voting in Ramanagara as the party candidate L. Chandrashekar backed off from the contest and rejoined the Congress just two days before the polls, came a cropper, with the Election Commission officials saying there was no provision in the law to postpone the polls in the light of Thursday’s development.

The voting picked up  in Mandya as the day progressed with the electorate lining up at polling booths across the Constituency. Mandya LS seat has eight Assembly segments — Mandya, Maddur, Malavalli, Srirangapatna, Melukote, Nagamangala, K.R. Pet and K.R. Nagar (Mysuru District) — with a total 16,84,446 voters.

The average polling percentage was recorded at 15 per cent till 11 am, with Maddur recording the highest percentage at 16.83 and K.R. Nagar, the lowest at 10.47 per cent.

L.R. Shivaramegowda of JD(S) is the JD(S)-Congress coalition candidate, while BJP has fielded former IRS Officer Dr. Siddharamaiah. There are a total of nine candidates in fray, with seven of them Independents, including journalist Kowdle Channappa. Transport Minister D.C. Thammanna cast his vote at Doddarasinakere in Maddur Taluk, where actor and former Minister Ambarish too cast his vote.

Mandya District-in-charge Minister C.S. Puttaraju cast his vote at his native village Chinakurali in Pandavapura taluk, while BJP candidate Dr. Siddharamaiah exercised his franchise at Yathagadahalli in Mandya taluk and JD(S)-Congress coalition candidate L.R. Shivaramegowda at a polling booth in Nagamangala town.

However, it is not known whether actress and former Mandya MP Ramya will cast vote at her polling booth at Vidyanagar in Mandya.

In Ramanagara, it seems to be a walkover for JD(S) candidate Anitha Kumaraswamy as the BJP candidate Chandrashekar announced his retirement from the fray on Nov. 1.

As far as the rest of the Constituencies are concerned, there is a direct fight between J. Shantha of the BJP and V.S. Ugrappa of the Congress in Ballari LS; between B.Y. Raghavendra of the BJP and Madhu Bangarappa of the JD(S) in Shivamogga LS and between Anand S. Nyamagouda of the Congress and Srikanth Kulkarni of the BJP in Jamkhandi.