|
Bangalore: Hundreds of
voters in many constituencies across Karnataka Sunday boycotted
the assembly poll in protest against the "apathy" of the political
parties and the administration, which, they alleged, had let them
down.
Election Commission sources here admitted that angry voters in six
of the eight assembly segments across Haveri district, about 330
km from Bangalore, stayed away en masse from polling stations and
staged sit-in demos against parties and officials for not
providing them basic facilities such as drinking water and power
at a time they were reeling under drought.
"We have received reports that in many polling booths across
Haveri, Chitradurga, Davangere, Kolar and Chikkaballapur, the
turnout was nil, as voters decided to boycott the election," an EC
official told IANS.
Even Soliga tribals in Chamarajanagar district did not cast their
ballot in protest against the "indifference" of the authorities to
their demands.
In southwest Bangalore, several unhappy voters in the
Rajarajeshwarinagar and Anekal assembly segments refused to
exercise their franchise as none of their basic needs were met and
they were dissatisfied with the choice of candidates in the fray
irrespective of the party affiliation.
"Voters are miffed that no elected representatives, including
their civic ward corporators visited them or provided amenities
such as bitumen roads, water connection and regular power in their
localities. As they were betrayed by the political class and
officials, they staged demos outside the polling stations holding
their voters' identity cards but refused to vote," a presiding
officer said.
Similarly, in northwest Bangalore, where Karnataka Law and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar, of the Bharatiya
Janata Party, was contesting, about 40,000 voters, belonging to
the "Silent Majority" group, exercised the option of 'right to
reject' provision in the Peoples' Representation Act under rule 49
(O) and expressed their resentment by filling up the 19A form,
rejecting all contestants.
|
Karnataka Polls
Comments
|
Quick links