Hubballi: It appeared to be a straight fight between the Congress and BJP in the local body polls in most districts of North Karnataka on Friday as the JD(S) has not made much of an effort to win votes going by its choice of candidates. The battle between the two parties is more acute in towns of the Badami assembly constituency, where it has become a matter of prestige for both the BJP and Congress to win the polls as it was here that former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defeated Mr B Sriramulu of the saffron party by a slender margin in the recent assembly poll.
Taking the poll extremely seriously, candidates and their supporters in Bagalkote did not seem to want leave things to chance as they drew on the powers of” black magic” to win the poll. A clear giveaway were the broken coconuts smeared with vermillion, white ash, bunches of bananas, lime and coins found scattered near the homes of their rival candidates and polling booths in the town.
In some places, local politicians have fielded their wives and children. For instance, in Haveri, the children of former minister, Basavaraj Shivanannavar and former MLA G Shivanna are in the fray. And with both the Congress and BJP seeing internal bickering over the choice of candidates in all the local bodies, a large number of rebels have entered the contest, challenging their official party candidates. On the bright side, engineering, medical and postgraduates have also entered the fray for the local body elections in Haveri district.
