WILL POWER: A voter, who has had a paralytic attack, being taken to a polling booth in Uchagaon village during the zilla and taluk panchayat elections on Monday.

Belgaum: Reports reaching the district headquarters on Monday, there was a high voter turnout in Belgaum district for the zilla and taluk panchayat elections. Official sources put the percentage of voting at 65.

The highest polling percentage of 72 was witnessed in Chikkodi taluk and the lowest 65 in Khanapur taluk.

In Belgaum, polling was 70 per cent, Raibag 72, Gokak 70, Athani 68, Ramdurg 70, Bailhongal 70, Saundatti 71, Khanapur 65 and Hukkeri 70 per cent.

Polling was affected at several polling stations in different parts of the district, including in Katakwadi of Raibag taluk where there was a stone-throwing incident. However, polling was peaceful, the district officials said.

At polling booth number 181 in Chikmunavalli village in the Nandgad police station limits of Khanapur taluk, a youth identified as Vijay Ganpati Nandihallikar was arrested for impersonation.

In all, 391 candidates contested for 86 zilla panchayat seats and there were 1,265 candidates in fray for the 335 of the 336 taluk panchayat seats. The Congress has registered victory in Benchinmardi in Gokak Taluk Panchayat limits where its candidate, Balappa Ningappa Rayannavar, has been elected unopposed.

Fierce battle

No matter which way the camel takes a turn, the election to the zilla and taluk panchayats in the State will be remembered more for the wrong reasons where the ruling partners in the coalition Government, the Congress and the Janata Dal (S), have made strange bedfellows.

Though the two parties are partners in the Government, a fierce electoral battle between them was apparent in Belgaum and other parts of north Karnataka that went to the polls in the first phase on Monday.

This is one election, where the principal Opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Legislature is likely to be inconsequential, at least in Belgaum, where it has two Lok Sabha members and eight MLAs.

In Hukkeri taluk, which is also the home taluk of the district in-charge Minister Prakash B. Hukkeri (Congress), the contest was between candidates owing loyalty to the two principal rivals and former Ministers, A.B. Patil of the Congress and Umesh V. Kati of the Janata Dal (S), respectively.

However, there was some confusion among the voters in Gokak and Arabhavi Assembly pockets under the control of the brothers, the All India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD) State President and MLC, Satish Jarkiholi, the MLA from Gokak, Ramesh Jarkiholi (Congress), and the MLA from Arabhavi, Balchandra Jarkiholi (Janata Dal-S).

The voters loyal to the Jarkiholi family were unable to decide on their vote for various reasons. In the border taluks of Belgaum, Khanapur and the Assembly pockets of Uchagaon and Nippani, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES), which has fielded candidates with an eye to capture Belgaum and Khanapur taluk panchayats, had an advantage.

However, it was immediately not known to what extent the Congress has been able to cut into the MES vote bank in Uchagaon and Khanapur taluk where, according to Ramesh L. Kudachi, Congress MLA, the Congress had been able to convince a sizeable section that the MES agitation had adversely affected the development of border villages including those dominated by Marathi-speaking people.

Though the AIPJD has fielded a good number of candidates, its presence was mainly to scuttle the prospects of the Janata Dal (S).

The presence of Samajwadi Party, headed by former Chief Minister, S. Bangarappa, may not be of any consequence, though it is hoping to open an account in the zilla panchayat.

Counting will be taken up on December 27.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu