97.91% polling in Legislative Council byelection from Dakshina Kannada Local Authorities’ constituency

Moodbidri taluk records 100% polling while the least 88.8% voting was reported in Byndoor taluk

Dakshina Kannada Local Authorities’ constituency, including Udupi district, recorded 97.91% polling in the byelection held to the Legislative Council on Monday. The byelection was peaceful.

Moodbidri taluk in Dakshina Kannada recorded 100% polling with all 216 eligible persons voting. The least polling of 88.8% was recorded in Byndoor taluk in Udupi district, where 230 of 259 eligible voters exercised their franchise.

The counting will be held on Thursday at St. Aloysius Pre-University College in Mangaluru.

Of the 6,032 total voters in the constituency, 5,906 persons exercised their franchise. The polling was held between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. in 392 booths, according to M.P. Mullai Muhilan, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada and the Returning Officer.

He said that 2,839 of 2,904 males voted and 3,067 of 3,128 female voters exercised their franchise.

The polling percentage in all other taluks (totally 16), except Byndoor, was above 93%.

Udupi and Hebri taluks recorded 99.18% voting, Karkala 99.28%, Bantwal 99.24%, Puttur 99.2%, and Kadaba taluk reported 99.65% polling.

Bridegroom votes in Kokkada

Sharat, a member of the Kokkada Gram Panchayat, Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada, whose marriage was on Monday, came to the polling station in the same gram panchayat in his wedding attire and cast his vote.

MPs, MLAs vote

Speaker and Mangaluru MLA U. T. Khader voted in the Ullal City Municipality polling station.

Captain Brijesh Chowta, Dakshina Kannada MP; Y. Bharat Shetty, Mangaluru City North MLA; D. Vedavyasa Kamath, Mangaluru City South MLA, and MLCs Ivan D’Souza and Manjunath Bhandary voted in the Mangaluru City Corporation polling booth.

Yashpal Suvarna, MLA, Udupi, and Udupi City Municipal Council president Prabhakara Poojary voted in Udupi City Municipality polling station. Gurme Suresh Shetty, MLA, Kaup, Udupi district, voted in Kaup Town Municipality polling booth.

Kota Srinivas Poojary, Udupi and Chikkamagaluru MP, voted in Saligrama Town Panchayat polling station.

There were four candidates in the fray: Kishore B.R. of the BJP, Raju Poojary of the Congress, Anwar Sadath S. of the Social Democratic Party of India, and Dinakar Ullal, Independent.

The byelection was held to the seat vacated by Mr. Kota Srinivas Poojary. The vacancy was created on June 15, following his resignation from the Council. His term in the Council was till January 5, 2028.

Last regular election

In the last regular election held to the Council from the same constituency in December 2021, Mr. Poojary and Mr. Bhandary were elected as it is a dual-member constituency. While Mr. Poojary secured 3,672 votes, Mr. Bhandary polled 2,079, and the third candidate Shafi Bellare of the SDPI secured 204 votes. In all, 6,011 votes were polled. As many as 56 votes were declared invalid.

Published - October 22, 2024 07:00 am IST