BENGALURU: Cast your votes early instead of waiting till late evening, warns the Met Department.
The weatherman has predicted moderate to high intensity rain on Saturday, the voting day, and the next one week which is a common phenomenon during pre-monsoon. For the next one week, heavy downpour coupled with thunder storm and high velocity wind is predicted, said Dr G.S. Srinivasa Reddy, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
Generally, pre-monsoon showers last 30 minutes to one hour. Due to high moisture content in the atmosphere, the rain occurred over the city for nearly two hours on Thursday and Friday.
V.V. Puram recorded a rainfall of 100 mm (10 cm) on Thursday. However, since there is no historical record, the department cannot say whether it was a record rainfall. The department set up rain gauges at different places in the city only five years ago.
Power disruption
Kallambella MUSS feeders witnessed fault due to heavy rain and wind on Thursday. As a result, some parts of the city witnessed power outages. On Friday too, feeder fault interruptions were reported. Some parts of eastern and southern Bengaluru faced power cuts.
Traffic affected
Heavy showers brought down five trees on Friday, affecting the movement of traffic across the city. Traffic was affected in Indiranagar behind New Horizon School, J.P. Nagar 3rd Phase, Cambridge Road, HRBR Layout and near Kanteerva Stadium. In Richmond Town, Murphy Town and HBR Layout, water up to five feet was flowing on the roads, flooding homes and low lying areas.
Campaign to increase voter turnout
The Million Voter Rising campaign, backed by the citizen action group Whitefield Rising, has urged residents to vote in big numbers on the election day on Saturday. A comprehensive guidebook, released by the campaign, advises voters to arrange a common vehicle at their community level to make sure everyone votes. It also suggests planning selfie events after the voting.
Though Whitefield Rising has not endorsed any candidate, it has urged voters to focus on candidates and not on parties. “A good candidate can do a lot with or without any party support as the role of MLA is well empowered,” the guideline says. The video of the Open Forum Meet with Mahadevapura candidates has been uploaded online, in which candidates talk about their plans to address civic issues. The citizen group has ensured that the voters got their ID cards by submitting the applications online early. Voters in the Mahadevapura constituency have decided to postpone their vacations till the elections are over. Children at Shantiniketan apartment complex in Whitefield have over the past few days been urging the elders to come out in large numbers to vote.
