Bengaluru: The Jayanagar constituency went to polls today at 7 am, to elect their new representative to the state Assembly, after the May 12 polling in the constituency was countermanded owing to the death of BJP candidate B N Vijayakumar. About 10 per cent polling was recorded in Jayangar Assembly segment as of 9 am, poll officials said. Counting for the same is scheduled for June 13 at NMKRV College of Jayanagar T Block from 8 am.
The BJP chose to name B N Prahlad, brother of Vijaykumar, as its candidate for the election, campaigning for which was concluded on Saturday, June 9.
The Congress has fielded senior party leader and former Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy as its candidate.
Just days ahead of polls, the Janata Dal(S) had on June 5 pulled out its candidate and extended the party’s support to its ruling coalition partner, the Congress.
JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had announced that his party candidate Kalegowda was “retiring” from the contest, and they would support Congress’ Sowmya Reddy.
Both, the Congress and the JD(S) had fielded candidates against each other, despite being coalition partners, in the recent election to the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly seat in the city.
Congress candidate Munirathna had won the seat, relegating the JD(S) candidate to a distant third.
There are 2, 03,184 voters in the constituency – 1, 02,668 male, 1, 00,500 female and 16 transgenders – who are expected to cast their votes in about 216 polling booths in the Jayanagar constituency today, where about 19 candidates are in the fray, including independent candidate Ravikrishna Reddy.
With inputs from PTI
