Voting begins in Karntataka LS bypolls

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Bengaluru: The polling for byelections to the Lok Sabha from Mandya and Bangalore Rural constituencies, began on Wednesday at 8 a.m.
 
An estimated 36.37 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. Security has been provided to all the 4,360 polling stations in the two constituencies to ensure peaceful voting, . Around 25,000 security personnel will be on duty. As many as 675 booths have been declared hyper-sensitive and 1,250 sensitive. 
 
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has played for high stakes in the polls that was marked by a no-holds barred attack by leaders of Congress and JDS, which has the backing of BJP for both the seats.
 
The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of N Cheluvarayaswamy (Mandya) and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy (Bangalore Rural) who quit after being elected to the Assembly in May.
 
JDS of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has fielded Kumaraswamy's wife Anita from Bangalore Rural, and C S Puttaraju in Mandya. Leading Kannada actor Ramya is Congress candidate from Mandya and D K Suresh, brother of senior Congress leader and MLA D K Shivakumar from Bangalore Rural.
 
Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha on Tuesday said about sixty teams of surveillance and flying squads would be deployed for the by-elections.
 
There would be a ban on exit poll on the date of poll. Any analysis in the preceding 48 hours is an offence under the Representation of People's Act, he added.
 
The Gowda belt of Mandya is a stronghold of JDS, which won five of the eight Assembly seats in the district in the May elections.
 
In Bangalore Rural, where Kumaraswamy had won by 1.3 lakh votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress has secured the support of Samajwadi Party MLA, C P Yogeeshwara, who who reigned supreme in Channapa Assembly segment defeating Anita in May.