• Poll official dies on duty in Chamarajanagar
• Woman gives birth to baby girl after voting in Pandavapura

Mysuru:  With 14 Lok Sabha Constituencies going to polls today in the first phase of voting in Karnataka (second phase in the country), the polling for Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat began on a brisk note in the city this morning with voters seen lining up at many polling booths nearly 15 minutes before the voting began at 7 am.

Barring a few stray incidents, where polling began 15 minutes beyond schedule at a polling booth in Devaraja Mohalla (Booth No. 230) and at Booth No. 37 in JSS High  School, Vijayanagar 2nd Stage, as poll officials were reportedly late in conducting mock poll drill ahead of actual voting, polling went on smoothly across the city.

A copy of model ballot paper containing the list of all the 22 candidates in fray was seen pasted on a display board at all polling booths. Also, an official was posted at every polling booth to guide voters to their respective halls.

Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat coalition candidate C.H. Vijayashankar along with his wife Babitha, son Chetan and daughter Kanaka exercised franchise at Vijayanagar Residents Association Polling Booth in Vijayanagar 3rd Stage, while Chamaraja MLA L. Nagendra cast vote along with his family at Balodyana Educational Institutions Polling Booth at Jayanagar and K.R. MLA S.A. Ramdas exercised his franchise at St. Mary’s School on Ramanuja Road.

Former MLA Vasu cast his vote at a Polling Booth in Mahajana Educational Institution, Jayalakshmipuram, while former CM Siddharamaiah along with his MLA son Dr. Yathindra cast vote at his native village Siddaramanahundi in the taluk. District Minister G.T. Devegowda accompanied by his family voted at Gunghral Chatra in Yelwal Hobli of the taluk.

Sitting MP and BJP candidate Pratap Simha along with his wife Arpitha cast vote at Royal Concorde School in Bogadi 2nd Stage.

Mysuru-Kodagu records 36% by 1 pm

The Mysuru-Kodagu LS Constituency recorded a 20 percent voter turnout by 11 am, even as polling, which began on a brisk note, gained momentum as the day progressed and stood at 36% by 1 pm.

A large number of voters were seen lined up at almost all Polling Booths  in the city eagerly waiting for their turn to exercise franchise. The voter turnout by 7 pm at the 8 Assembly segments of the Constituency is as follows: Chamaraja (55.59%); N.R. (56.55%); Krishnaraja (60.36%); Chamundeshwari (69.44%); Hunsur (77.45%); Periyapatna (78.60%); Virajpet (70%) and  Madikeri (75%).

Suttur Mutt Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji and Junior Seer Jayarajendra Swamiji cast their vote at JSS College on Ooty Road, while member of erstwhile Royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar accompanied by his wife Trishikha Kumari cast vote at Srikantha Public School on Shankar Mutt Road and actress Malavika Avanish, who was a keen aspirant for K.R. Assembly BJP ticket in last year’s Assembly polls, cast her vote at JSS High School for Girls at Saraswathipuram.

13 other LS Constituencies

The 13 other Lok Sabha Constituencies in the State that went to the polls are Mandya,  Chamarajanagar (SC), Bengaluru (North), Bengaluru (Central), Bengaluru (South), Bengaluru (Rural), Hassan, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi-Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga (SC) and Kolar (SC).

In Mandya, actress Sumalatha Ambarish, who is contesting as an Independent candidate backed by rebel Congress leaders, KRRS, BJP and other organisations, is engaged in a keen battle with coalition candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of CM H.D. Kumaraswamy, while JD(S) Supremo and former PM H.D. Deve Gowda is taking on veteran BJP leader G.S. Basavaraj in Tumakuru.

In Hassan, Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD Minister H.D. Revanna, has locked horns with A. Manju of the BJP, while Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda is witnessing a tough battle with Minister Krishna Byregowda of the Congress, former Union Minister K.H. Muniyappa is taking on Muniswamy of the BJP in Kolar (SC) LS seat.

The Dakshina Kannada LS Constituency is witnessing a battle between sitting MP and BJP candidate Nalin Kumar Kateel and Mithun Rai of the Congress, while former Minister Shobha Karandlaje of BJP is taking on Pramod Madhwaraj in Udupi-Chikkamagalur LS seat.

Interestingly, the JD(S) which was allotted the Udupi-Chikkamagalur LS seat in a seat-sharing pact with coalition partner Congress, gave the ticket to Congress leader Pramod Madhwaraj, asking him to contest the seat on JD(S) ticket.

In Bengaluru (Central), two-time MP P.C. Mohan is taking on Rizwan Arshad of the Congress while in Bengaluru (South) greenhorn and young leader Tejasvi Surya of the BJP is taking on veteran Congress leader B.K. Hari Prasad.

Late Union Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar had represented the Bengaluru (South) Constituency for 6 successive terms.

Following Ananth Kumar’s death in November last, his wife Tejaswini Ananth Kumar was a keen aspirant for the ticket. But the BJP chose to field fire brand young leader Tejasvi Surya, nephew of Basavangudi Legislator Ravi Subramanya.

Former Union Minister K.H. Muniyappa is taking on Muniswamy of the BJP in Kolar (SC) seat. Muniswamy, currently a BBMP Corporator, is giving a tough fight to veteran K.H. Muniyappa, who is seeking 8th consecutive term.

Another former Union Minister and former CM Veerappa Moily is facing veteran BJP leader B.N. Bachhegowda, a former Minister in Chikkaballapur. While Moily is seeking a third successive term, B.N. Bachhegowda who lost narrowly in the 2014 LS polls, is fighting for victory this time.

The rest 14 LS Constituencies located in the Northern part of the State will go the polls on Apr. 23, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to address BJP poll rallies at Chikkodi and Bagalkot later this afternoon.

AICC President Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a poll rally at Raichur tomorrow, in which Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu is also likely to take part.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded candidates in all the 14 LS seats that went to the polls today.

In Mysuru-Kodagu, B. Chandra is the BSP candidate while Dr. K. Shivakumar is the party candidate from Chamarajanagar and Lingaraju in Mandya.

The BSP has fielded former Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission Chairman C.S. Dwarakanath in Chikkaballapur to take on Veerappa Moily of the Congress and Bachhegowda of the BJP.

BSP Supremo Mayawati had addressed a poll rally at Maharaja’s College Grounds in city on Apr. 10.

Although the BSP is not a formidable force to reckon with the State, the number of votes it will get is expected to make an impact on the candidates contesting from the Congress and the BJP.

Candidates in  fray

There are 22 candidates in the fray from Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat, including sitting MP and BJP candidate Pratap Simha, coalition candidate C.H. Vijayashankar of the Congress, B. Chandra of the BSP and 19 Independent candidates.

In Mandya too, there are 22 candidates in the fray, with the Constituency is witnessing a direct fight between Sumalatha Ambarish and Nikhil Kumaraswamy of JD(S).

In Chamarajanagar, there are 10 candidates while in Hassan, there are 6 candidates in the fray.

Mysuru-Kodagu LS Constituency has 18,95,056 voters; Mandya – 17,12,012; Chamarajanagar – 16,86,023 voters and Hassan – 16,55,999 voters, who will decide the fate of candidates, when the counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.

De-mustering this evening

After the voting ends at 6 pm today, the EVMs from all the 2,187 polling booths in Mysuru-Kodagu LS Constituency will be brought to the respective de-mustering centres at all the eight Assembly segments. Later, they will be moved to the strong rooms at Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management on Valmiki Road, Paduvarahalli (Vinayakanagar) in city under tight Police security till May 23, when the counting of votes will be taken up.