Polling begins for Nanjangud, Gundlupet bypolls in Karnataka

Voting for the bypoll to the Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly constituencies began on Sunday.A total 2.01 lakh voters in Nanjangud and 2.04 lakh in Gundlupet are eligible to exercise their franchise.

Voting began on a peaceful and subdued note at 7 a.m. across 236 booths in Nanjangud and 250 booths in Gundlupet respectively. There were no complaints from anywhere about malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or the newly introduced voter verifiable print audit trail (VVPAT) machines.

In Golur village in Nanjangud, about 310 voters out of around 2,500 voters had cast their votes by 10 a.m.

Former Minister V. Srinivas Prasad, who resigned from the Assembly after being dropped from the Siddaramaiah Ministry, is seeking re-election as a BJP candidate from Nanjangud (Reserved). He is pitted against Congress nominee Kalale Keshavamurthy.

Mr. Keshavamurthy exercised his franchise at his native Kalale village around 7.15 a.m.

In Gundlupet, former Minister H.S. Mahadev Prasad’s wife Geetha Mahadev Prasad is contesting the elections as the Congress candidate against BJP’s Niranjan Kumar.