75.62% polling in West Graduates, 86.97% in North East Teachers constituency

The former Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti shows his ink-marked finger in Hubballi on Friday after casting his vote during the Legislative Council elections. | Photo Credit: PTI Polling for the Karnataka West Graduates and North-East Teachers constituencies of the Legislative Council concluded peacefully on Friday in 11 districts under the two segments.While West Graduates Constituency recorded 75.62% polling, North-East Teachers Constituency recorded 86.97%.According to Returning Officer and Belagavi Regional Commissioner K.M. Janaki, of the 97,400 registered voters, 73,658 exercised their franchise. They included 45,110 men and 28,548 women. Polling was held in 137 stations across the districts of Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag and Uttara Kannada.Haveri recorded the highest turnout at 78.71%, followed by Gadag at 77.66%, Uttara Kannada at 76.52% and Dharwad at 71.80%.Of the 24,648 registered voters in Haveri, 19,401 cast their votes. In Gadag, 16,770 voters out of a total 21,594 registered voters cast their votes, while 12,273 of the 16,039 electors in Uttara Kannada voted.In Dharwad district, 25,214 of the 35,119 registered voters exercised their franchise.Polling began at 8 a.m. and continued until 4 p.m. The combined turnout across the four districts stood at 27.46% at noon and 49.45% at 2 p.m., before reaching the final figure.Ms. Janaki said that voters participated actively and polling was peaceful across the constituency. She attributed the turnout to voter-awareness measures and the cooperation of candidates.Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, the former chairman of Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti were among those who cast their votes.In all, 14 candidates, including MLC S.V. Sankanur and the former MLC Mohan Limbikai are in the fray.Counting will be take up at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad on October 27. Teachers waiting to cast their votes in the North-East Teachers Constituency at MPHS School in the Super Market area of Kalaburagi on Friday. | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI 86.97 % pollingIn the North-East Teachers Constituency, polling began on a slow note but it picked up by noon and registered a voter turnout of 86.97 % by the end of the process at 4 p.m.Of the 34,784 voters, 30,250 exercised their franchise in 144 polling stations established across Kalaburagi, Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari and Vijayanagar districts.As many as 18,008 men voters of the 20,041 and 12,242 women voters of the 14,743 cast their votes.At the end of polling, all the districts improved their voting percentage. As per the final data provided by the Regional Commissioner’s office, Koppal recorded 92.59 % to remain top on the list, followed by 91.07 % in Vijayanagar, Yadgir 90.79%, Ballari 86.50%, Bidar 86.47%, Raichur 86.04%, while Kalaburagi came last with 84.37 % polling.There are 13 candidates in the fray, including sitting MLC Shashil G. Namoshi of the BJP, Sharanappa Mattur of the Congress, Saibanna Jamadar from Aam Aadmi Party, S.L. Patil of the Janata Dal (United) and independent candidates Kaviraj Motakpalli, Mehboob Vantelli, Tulasappa Dasar, Rajkumar, Raju, Sharanabasappa, Shashidhar, Shivashankar and Suresh.Counting will be taken up at the Department of Mathematics at Gulbarga University on October 27.