Crucial twin Assembly bypolls in Karnataka on Tuesday

Amid the Covid pandemic, two crucial by-elections will be held in Karnataka on Tuesday in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagara (RR Nagara) and Tumakuru's Sira assembly segments after a 10-day high-voltage campaign by the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress and JD-S.

"Around 6.76 lakh electorate, including 7,000 first-timers, are eligible to vote in the two by-elections from 7 am  to 6 pm," an Election Commission official told IANS here on Monday.

RR Nagara has 4.6 lakh voters, including 2.4 lakh men and 2.2 lakh women, while Sira has 2.15 lakh voters, with 1.10 lakh men and 1.05 women.

Electorate above 60 years have been allowed to vote with postal ballot due to the Covid-induced restrictions on them from going out of their homes.

"For Covid-affected voters, we have arranged ambulances to ferry them to the nearest polling station in both the assembly segments in the last hour (5-6 pm) to exercise their franchise and return to their home or hospital where they are under treatment," the official said.

The state government has declared paid holiday for all the voters in both the assembly segments to exercise their franchise on Tuesday.

Of the 1,008 polling stations, 678 are in RR Nagara and 330 in Sira.

"Of the 678 polling stations in 141 locations across the constituency, 82 have been identified as critical and 596 as normal," said the official.

In all, 2,034 electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used with voter-verified audit trail (VVPAT) systems for polling in both the assembly segments.

"Voters will be screened thermally before they enter the polling booths to ensure they are virus free," the official added.

In all, 31 candidates, including 16 in RR Nagara and 15 in Sira, are in fray. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

In RR Nagara, the BJP has fielded N. Muniratna, whose resignation in July 2019 as a Congress legislator caused the by-election.

A two-time lawmaker, Muniratna defected to the ruling party in November 2019 after the Supreme Court allowed him to recontest though he was disqualified for defying the party whip.

The Congress has fielded H. Kusuma, the widow of former IAS officer D.K. Ravi, who joined the Congress on October 4 with a view to contesting the byelections. Her father Hanumantharayappa is a former Congress council member from the RR Nagara zone.

Ravi, 35, a 2009 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer, committed suicide in the city on March 16, 2015 for "personal reasons".

The  Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) has nominated V. Krishna Murthy as its candidate for a triangular contest though there are a dozen independents at the hustings.

As the constituency has a large number of Vokkaligas, a political dominant community in the state, the Congress and JD-S candidates are Vokkaligas, while Muniratna is a Naidu.

In Sira, about 120 km northwest of Bengaluru, the JD-S has fielded Ammajamma, the widow of the regional party's B. Satyanarayana, whose death on August 5 after prolonged illness caused the by-election.

The Congress has nominated its former minister T.B. Jayachandra, who lost to Satyanarayana in the May 2018 Assembly elections, while Rajesh Gowda is the BJP contestant.

Kusuma, 31, and Rajesh Gowda are greenhorns who are contesting the elections for the first time.

Security has been tightened in both the assembly segments.

The poll panel has deployed 19 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 20 platoons of the City Armed Reserve (CAR) to maintain law and order and ensure free and fair polls.

Sale and consumption of liquor has also been banned in the constituency area from Sunday to Tuesday midnight.

Besides Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and a dozen BJP cabinet ministers, Congress state unit president D.K. Shivakumar, opposition leader Siddaramaiah, former JD-S Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister and JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda campaigned for the candidates during the electioneering.