Bengaluru, April 9 In the first two hours since voting began for bypolls to the two Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly constituencies, the voter turnout stood at 11.87 percent and 9.01 percent, respectively, on Thursday.
The voting for the bypolls in the two constituencies, necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, began at 7 am, according to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
While the Congress faces the challenge of retaining both seats, the BJP is aiming to win them and deal a setback to the ruling party, which is currently experiencing an "internal power struggle" over leadership.
A total of over 2.59 lakh eligible voters are expected to cast their votes at around 319 polling stations in Bagalkot, where nine candidates are contesting.
In Davanagere South, over 2.31 lakh eligible voters are expected to vote across 284 polling stations, with 25 candidates contesting.
Officials said elaborate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the bypolls.
The BJP has fielded former MLA and 2023 defeated candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot, and a fresh face, Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, from Davanagere South.
The Congress has given tickets to family members of the late legislators in both constituencies. Bagalkot candidate Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, while Samarth Mallikarjun from Davanagere South is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Samarth’s father, S S Mallikarjun, is a minister in the Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet and in charge of Davanagere district, while his mother, Prabha Mallikarjun, is a Member of Parliament from the region.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, H Y Meti defeated BJP’s Charantimath by a margin of 5,878 votes in Bagalkot, while Shivashankarappa defeated BJP’s B G Ajay Kumar by 27,888 votes in Davanagere South.