Summary Report
Bengaluru: Around 46 percent of the 74 lakh electorate voted on Saturday in 197 wards of the Bengaluru civic corporation across the city amid tight security, a poll official said.
Barring stray incidents and heated arguments by cadres and supporters of rival political parties, polling in 197 of the 198 civic wards was by and large peaceful.
“As per initial reports from 6,463 polling stations across the city, 46-47 percent of voting was recorded till 5 p.m. The final figure may go up two-three percent, as there was a last minute rush of voters in several booths around 5 p.m. due to moderate to heavy rains in many wards in the evening,” said an official.
During the 2010 civic poll, the voting was 44 percent in 198 wards.
The century-old Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils and one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100.
The day-long election was held in 197 wards, as the BJP’s Bharati Ramachandra, 45, was declared elected from the Hongasandra ward (number 189) after the nomination papers of Congress candidate K. Maheshwari were rejected on August 13 for submitting a false caste certificate.
Delimitation of the wards on the basis of the 2011 population census, with 50 percent of them reserved for women, has forced political parties to field wives or relatives of former corporators as contestants in many wards.
Though polling began at 7 a.m. and was dull initially, it picked up momentum post-noon and 23-25 percent voting was registered till 2 p.m. across the city,
The state government declared a public holiday to enable the electorate to vote, while police banned liquor sale till Saturday night across the city.
Re-polling, if any, will be held on Monday and counting will take place on August 25.
In all, 1,120 candidates, including 197, 198 and 187 from the BJP, the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) respectively, a dozen from regional outfits like Vatala Chaluvali Paksha, AIADMK and Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and 399 Independents, including many as rebels are in the fray.
In the previous five-year term (2010-2015), the BJP ruled the BBMP for the first time by winning 116 wards, as against 62 wards by the Congress, 14 by JD-S and eight by Independents.
On the Supreme Court’s directive, the revised polling date (August 22) was fixed on July 16 and the BBMP commissioner notified the election schedule on August 3, with the last date for filing nominations on August 10, scrutiny on August 11 and the last date for withdrawal on August 13.
According to an exit poll, conducted by a local news channel, the ruling Congress in the state is projected to get 91-98 seats, BJP 83-91, JD-S 9-17 and others, including independents, 1-8.
Poor turnout marks the end of civic elections
Update: 05:00PM
Bengaluru: The BBMP elections came to an official close, with an unfortunate poor turnout by Bangaloreans to exercise their vote. The election being held on a weekend and the rainy weather have been quoted as reasons for the voters away to have stayed home.
According to the election officials, there is no interest among Bengaluru residents to vote.
State Election Commissioner P.N Sreenivasachary, earlier said that the voter turnout usually improves after 11 am but that wasn’t the case this time. He said the poor turnout would probably have been because of the rains.
Meanwhile, as per another report only 1% polling took place in Uttarahalli ward of North Bengaluru. Most wards in the city have recorded around 1% to 15% polling.
Update: 04:25PM
Only 38 % of votes counted!
Bengaluru: Only 38 percentage of votes were counted until evening. At Jakkasandra ward, of the 1053 voters, 560 cast their vote. A lot of last-minute voters were seen rushing in.
Update: 04:00 PM
Bogus voting alleged by BJP
The BBMP polls are in full swing; however, as per a news channel, bogus voting has come to light in Ward 103 – Pattigarapalya.
The fake votes were discovered when a person named Sukumar from Pattigarapalya came to vote in booth number 5. To his surprise, someone had already signed under his name. After this, several other such instances were brought to notice and the voters were not allowed to excise their franchise.
Meanwhile BJP alleged that the congress have distributed money and other amenities to woo the voters. They also held a demonstration near the booth in Adugodi.
Update: 02:40PM
25 people not allowed to vote:
In Moodalapalya ward, over 25 people were not allowed to vote despite having all the required documents. Even after repeated attempts and registering complaints, the officials did not take the matter seriously or take an action on it.
Update: 12:00 PM
Veeranapalya finally votes:
Veeranapalya had earlier decided to boycott the polls owing to lack of amenities. However, after frequent requests made by the candidates, the residents withdrew and voted in the elections.
Update: 11:14AM
3 held as violations galore on polling day
While the BBMP elections for city corporation of Bengaluru is underway, cops arrested three persons at booth No 28 of ward no 3 in Yelahanka.
BJP party worker Manjunath and Congress supporters Varadaraj and Devaraj were arrested for creating ruckus outside the polling booth.
Many party workers have been allegedly seen pressurising the voters. Sources said that they were creating a ruckus by wooing voters at the polling booth.
In several wards EVMs were reportedly malfunctioning. Voters were not inked after casting the vote, it is learnt.
Several politicians and celebrities, are said to have casted their votes for the crucial civic polls. Till 01.30am the voter turnout is 21%.
Update: 11:00AM
Youth dies while on the way to vote:
Fayaz(22), who was heading to cast his vote died after a tree branch fell on him in Shivajinagar.
Update: 10:55AM
Lemon Rice Politics:
With the intention of roping in more voters, parties also engaged in distribution of free lemon rice to the those who came in to cast their votes.
Congress and JD(S) lodged complaint with the election commission against BJP for defying its order. Election commission had asked the BJP party to remove its flag and symbol at their office in Malleshwaram.
Update: 08:42 AM
Bengaluru civic polls; Voting begins
Voting for Bengaluru civic polls began on Saturday August 22. The crucial polls held to elect a new city corporation, BBMP, is being dubbed as a city referendum on CM Siddaramaiah. The ruling Congress party and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party are engaged in a fierce electoral battle to capture the BBMP. Earlier it was held by the BJP. The third player JDS is hoping for a hung civic body.
According to the officials around 20,000 policemen including home guards have been deployed to maintain law and order during the voting. 73,88,256 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect representatives for 197 wards. The total number of wards is 198. Bharati Ramachandra, a BJP candidate, was declared elected unanimously from Hongasandra ward in Bommanahalli assembly segment.
NS Megharik, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, said that the police have identified 1,700 polling booths as highly sensitive, 1,990 as sensitive and 2,863 as normal polling booths in the city. “We will depute one head police constable and one police constable at each of the highly sensitive polling booths, two police constables and one home guard at each sensitive polling booth and one police constable at each of the normal polling booths,” he said.
Update: 08:00AM
Polling timing
The polling will start at 7 AM and conclude at 5 PM. Re-polling, if necessary, will be held on August 24 between 7 AM and 5 PM. The counting of votes will begin at 8 AM on August 25.
BBMP Election – Facts & Figures
Total Number of Wards – 198
50% Seats Reserved for Women
Election to be held for 197 Wards. BJP won a ward unopposed.
Total Number of Voters – 73,88,256 (7.3 Million Voters)
New Voters – 3,37,230
EVMs will be used. No provision for NOTA.
Voting Timing – 7 AM to 5 PM.
Total Number of Candidates – 1,120 candidates
Total Number of Polling Stations – 6,759 booths with 32,176 officials taking part.
This will include 7,981 presiding officers, an equal number of assistant presiding officers and 16,214 polling officers. There will also be seven IAS officers on special duty as observers.
Three helplines will also be set up for receiving complaints – 08022374740, 08022224748, 08022221188.
Major political parties in the fray – Congress, BJP and JDS. AIMIM is also contesting in 30 Wards. Loksatta Party is also in the fray in some Wards.
