Bengaluru/Mangaluru: The voting for 25 MLC seats in the state got underway at 8 am on Sunday December 28.
As many as where 1.07 lakh voters will cast their votes today to mainly decide the fate of the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S) and the 125 candidates in the fray. All three parties have got into the elections independently. In what could be termed as a common problem, all three parties have rebel candidates.
The term of 25 MLCs is ending on January 5, which has paved way for the elections. In the 75 member House, the BJP and JD(S) put together, form a majority, with 30 and 11 members respectively. The Congress has only 28 members.
Dakshina Kannada-Udupi
Rajya Sabha MP Oscar Fernandes, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake and Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj arrived together in the morning at Udupi CMC along with their supporters and casted votes.
Speaking to reporters, Oscar Fernandes said that the Congress has done well across the state and he sees a clear victory in most of the constituencies. He admitted that the party received a setback in Dakshina Kannada-Udupi constituency, however, he said that as the BJP and the Congress have fielded one candidate each, the official candidate Pratapchandra Shetty is going to win.
Altogether, eight candidates are in the fray in this constituency. They are S Prakash Shetty (JD(S)), K Prathapchandra Shetty (Congress), Praveenchandra Jain (JD(S)), Kota Srinivas Poojary (BJP), Alphonse Franco (Independent), Ismail Doddamane (Independent), K Jayaprakash Hegde (Independent) and K Harikrishna Bantwal (Independent).
The constituency has 6,568 voters with 1,019 from Kundapur taluk, 1,156 from Udupi taluk, 539 from Karkal taluk, 1,204 from Mangaluru taluk, 928 from Bantwal taluk, 704 from Beltangady taluk, 657 from Puttur taluk and 361 from Sullia taluk.
The counting of votes will take place on December 30.
