Udupi/M’Belle: People line up at polling booths as first phase of Panchayat elections is in pr

By Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 29 May 2015: The first phase of polling for the Grama Panchayat elections for 15 district in Karnataka is in progress. The second phase on June 2 will have the remaining 15 districts voting. Counting of votes for both phases will be on June 5.

 

The 15 districts that are in the process of polling for the panchayat elections include Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu, Mandya, Chamarajnagara, Udupi, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Haveri, Bagalkote, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad and Gadag. During the second phase, on June 2, polling will be held in the remaining 15 districts—Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur and Koppala.

 

 

According to the information of a total of 6073 gram panchayats only 5,844 are going to polls since the terms of 229 gram panchayats are either scheduled to end only in August 2015 or notified for changes or under legal scrutiny.

 

Elections are being held on a non-party basis and a total of 94,458 GP members will be elected by an electorate of 2.81 crore during the two phases of polling. Fifty per cent of the seats are reserved for women. 

 

The state government has made voting compulsory recently by amending the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act. While the amended law has received the assent of the Governor, the government has said there will be no penalty on those who violate the compulsory voting clause.

 

In Moodubelle-Kattingeri villages, polling is being held in 6 Wards for 18 seats out of which one member is being declared elected un-opposed. For the remaining 17 seats 41 candidates are in fray. Though the panchayat elections are supposed to be contested on non-party basis, the workers of two major parties-BJP and Congress have been seen actively canvassing and persuading the voters to vote for the candidates supported by these two parties.

 

Though majority of the contestants are new, five members of the dissolved Belle Grama Panchayat are in the field. These are: Rajendra Shetty, Harish Shetty, Sashidhar Wagle, A.G. D’Souza and Ranjani.

 

Though it has been cloudy and drizzling, many voters have been seen lining up at the polling booths to cast their ballots to decide who would form their next local administration.