A day before Karnataka votes amid massive security arrangements, the Election Commission on Friday decided to postpone polling at Rajarajeshwari Nagar where about 10,000 ID cards were recovered from a flat triggering a bitter blame game between the BJP and the Congress.
The poll there will now be held on May 28 and counting on May 31. The EC will send a special team of observers to monitor election expenses of the candidates and conduct of poll in the constituency. Police have arrested two persons in the case and there is a possibility of more arrests.
All eyes will be on the turnout on Saturday as 4.9 crore voters will cast their ballot to decide whether Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will buck the perceived anti-incumbency or the BJP will come back to power after five years. The voters will also decide whether Janata Dal (S) will be kingmaker or a party pooper for the BJP and the Congress. A bigger turnout is expected to help the BJP where as
lower turnout would mean that the anti-incumbency was not so acute against the party in power.
The Commission has made an elaborate security arrangement for Saturday’s polls in Karnataka. A total of 585 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed. The IT city Bengaluru will be protected by 45 companies of the CRPF, and 53 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP). In addition, there will be one company of the Rapid Action Force deployed. The Election Commission has identified 12,000 booths as sensitive and these booths will be primarily manned by Central forces, in addition to one State police personnel with the minimum rank of head. Additional Director General of Police Kamalpanth said, “All necessary steps have been taken. We are hoping to see people come out to vote in large numbers.”
A total of 2,636 candidates are in the fray for the 224 seats. Of the total electors, 2.52 crore are men, 2.44 crore women, and over 4,500 people identify themselves as transgenders. A total of 15.42 lakh voters, aged 18-19, have registered to cast their ballot for the first time. The southern State has a total of 58,008 polling stations across its 224 constituencies.
Polling will be held for 223 constituencies on Saturday.
The counting will be held on May 15.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP election campaign, along with party president Amit Shah and others like Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, against Congress president Rahul Gandhi. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi also addressed a rally in the State. Modi addressed 21 rallies across the State covering all the districts, which has changed the prospects for the party which was struggling with infighting. Party strategist and president Amit Shah, who has asked the BJP to make Congress-mukt Karnataka, has supervised the entire operation.
So far the people of Karnataka are guarded about their choice. The prediction by many pollsters says it would be a hung Assembly making JD(S) the kingmaker. A source in the JD(S) said they are looking at a Government with the support of the Congress without Siddaramaiah, an enemy of the Gowda clan.
Opinion polls have failed to provide a clear picture with most giving lead to the Congress in a hung scenario.
Deferring the Rajarajeshwari Nagar poll, the Commission said that the current election process in the constituency has been vitiated on account of unlawful activities of candidates and political parties as well as their workers in planning to allure voters through distribution of freebies and the illegal collection of electors photo identity cards (EPIC).
Highly-placed sources in the Commission had said prima facie it seems that most of the voter I-cards recovered were “genuine”. But the reason as to why they were found in the flat is still being ascertained.
“Every voter has freedom to cast his vote in a free and fair manner without facing any inducement. In this particular instance, free exercise of electoral rights has been compromised at a large scale in a systemic manner,” the EC said.
Field verification conducted by officials at some houses revealed that the voter ID cards were seized last month in exchange for water cans and promised cookers.
The EC said that the seized water cans bore photos of the Congress candidate from the constituency. The Commission took cognisance of two incidents, terming them serious: The first one pertains to the seizure of Rs.95 lakh in cash on May 6 and the second one to the seizure of voter identity cards, 20,700 photo voter slips, survey forms of voters and other articles seized from a flat in Jalahalli on May 8.