Mysuru: Enduring the summer heat and pushing the severe drought to the back of their minds, voters of Gundlupet and Nanjangud Assembly constituencies came out in large numbers to vote in the bypolls held on Sunday leaving political analysts wondering whom the large turnout would favour. While Gundlupet registered a voting turnout of 86.28%, Nanjangud, where veteran Dalit leader Srinivasprasad is the BJP candidate, recorded 77.56% voting. Counting of votes will be taken up on Thursday (April 13).
In 2013, Gundlupet had recorded a voting percentage of 84.85 with the current voting figures likely to set a new record. The constituency had seen a huge outpouring of grief after former cooperation minister Mahadevprasad passed away a few months ago Geetha Mahadevprasad is expected to benefit from the sympathy wave following his sudden demise. Both the Congress and BJP were quick to claim that the astounding voting percentage would work to their advantage. Former BJP MLC G Madhusudhan remarked that it was 'advantage BJP' after the huge voter turnout in Gundlupet while a senior Congress leader claimed it was a pro-Congress wave with traditional Congress voters coming out in large numbers to defeat the 'communal party.'
Mr Madhusudhan reasoned that if the voting crossed 80 per cent, it meant people had decided to express their anger against the incumbent Congress government led by Mr Siddaramaiah. He reeled out statistics to prove his point that the BJP had won in several constituencies in the past when the voting percentage was over 80. Disputing the BJP theory, the Congress leader asserted that rural voters had voted en masse for the ruling party seeing the developmental programmes initiated by former minister late H.S. Mahadevprasad in Gundlupet. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's three-day visit to the constituency had helped in increasing the voting percentage which would work to the advantage of Ms Geeta Mahadevprasad, he said.
As for Nanjangud, sources said the high turnout proved that the Congress had played all its cards to achieve its objective of defeating former minister V. Srinivasprasad, who was harsh on CM Siddaramaiah during the campaign. It was precisely for this reason that the CM deputed local strongman and minister Dr H.C. Mahadevappa to oversee the campaign in Nanjangud and energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, an experienced campaigner, for Gundlupet. With both parties rushing to claim that the high turnout will benefit them, the wait has already begun for the results, which are expected to lead to a churning in state politics.
