Karnataka by-poll: Voting for 3 Lok Sabha, 2 assembly seats underway

Bengaluru: By-poll for three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats are underway in Karnataka today. Voting began at 7 am and will be on till 6 pm.

Today’s by-poll will test the Congress-JDS coalition in Karnataka.

Congress and JDS have fielded joint candidates in all the seats. The JDS will be contesting the Mandya and Shivamogga Lok Sabha seats and the Ramanagara assembly constituency and the Congress has put up candidates in the Lok Sabha seat in Ballari and assembly seat in Jamkhandi.

A total of 54,54,275 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in about 6,450 polling stations. There are a total 31 candidates in the fray in all the five constituencies.

The results for the five seats will be declared on November 6.

Here are LIVE updates of today’s by-poll in Karnataka:

07:05 pm: 61.05 per cent, 63.85 per cent and 53.93 per cent voting recorded in parliamentary constituencies Shimoga, Bellary & Mandya respectively. 73.71 and 81.58 voting recorded in legislative assembly constituencies Ramanagaram & Jamkhandi respectively. Voting has concluded.

03:40 pm: Voting turnout till 3 pm - Parliamentary constituencies Bellary 47 per cent, Shimoga 41.49 per cent and Mandya 37.7 per cent.

Legislative assembly constituencies Jamkhandi 58.82 per cent and Ramnagar 54.76 per cent.

03:10 pm: BJP MLA B Sriramulu cast his vote at polling station no. 52 in Bellari.

(Photo: ANI/Twitter)

12:01 pm: Madhu Bangarappa, JDS candidate from the parliamentary constituency of Shimoga casts his vote at a polling booth in Kubtur.

(Photo: Twitter | ANI)

10:27 am: Anand Nyamagouda, Congress candidate from legislative assembly constituency of Jamkhandi casts his vote at polling booth number 125.

10:12 am: Voting turnout till 9 am: ANI

Parliamentary Constituencies:

Bellary - 4.40 per cent
Shimoga - 8.61 per cent
Mandya - 4.18 per cent

Legislative assembly constituencies:

Jamkhandi - 9 per cent
Ramnagar - 8 per cent

9:58 am: A snake being removed from polling booth 179 in Mottedoddi of Ramanagaram. The voting was delayed after it was spotted and resumed soon after it was removed.

9:55 am: People queue up outside booth no. 50 in Hirepadasalgi village of Jamkhandi to cast their franchise.

08:02 am: BJP candidate Srikant Kulkarni casts his vote at booth no. 150 in Hirepadasalgi village of Jamkhandi.

(Photo: ANI/Twitter)

08:01 am: Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa casts his vote at a polling booth in ward no 132 at Shikaripura in Shimoga.

(Photo: ANI/Twitter)

07:59 am: "101 per cent my son (BS Raghavendra) is going to win the Shimoga seat. We are also going to win Bellary and Jamkhandi. We will get absolute majority in all the constituencies," former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said.

07:55 am: Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and his son BS Raghavendra visit Hucharaya Swamy Temple in Shimoga. BS Raghavendra is contesting from parliamentary constituency of Shimoga.

(Photo: ANI/Twitter)

7:50 am: Voting for - Mandya, Shivamogga, Ballari Lok Sabha constituencies, and Ramanagara, Jamkhandi Assembly constituencies, begins.

07:55 am: By-poll for three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats underway in Karnataka:

Ramanagara Assembly Polls:

Wife of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Anitha Kumaraswamy, has been given a virtual walkover as the BJP candidate L Chandrashekhar quit the party to join the Congress just two days before the crucial polling.

Shivamogga Lok Sabha Polls:

BJP has fielded BS Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra, the JDS has nominated Madhu Bangarappa, the son of former chief minister S Bangarappa. JDU fielded Mahima Patel, son of former chief minister JH Patel.

Ballari Lok Sabha Polls:

Shantha, the sister of BJP leader B Sreeramulu, is in the fray with her main opponent, VS Ugrappa of the Congress.

Mandya Lok Sabha Polls:

JDS has fielded LR Shivarame Gowda, who will be up against BJP candidate Siddaramaiah.

Jamkhandi Assembly Polls:

The Congress has fielded Anand Nyamagouda, son of senior leader Siddu Nyamagouda. He is contesting against BJP's Srikant Kulkarni.