LS Elections: Polling Ends With 70% Turnout in TN, 67.7% in K’taka

Polling concluded in the second phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, 18 April, with the state of Karnataka recording a voter turnout of 67.67 percent for the 14 constituencies that voted, as compared to 68.68 percent for the corresponding region in 2014.

In Tamil Nadu’s 38 parliamentary constituencies, the tentative turnout stood at 69.55 percent, as compared to 73.58 percent in 2014.

Meanwhile, the lone Lok Sabha seat in Puducherry recorded a voter turnout of 80.5 percent, as compared to 82.1 percent in 2014, the chief electoral officer said.

Notably, these are interim figures, and the final turnout is expected to increase.

The southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were among the 11 states that cast their ballots on Thursday. Puducherry was the only Union territory that went to polls in the second phase.

Thirty eight seats in Tamil Nadu, 14 constituencies in Karnataka and the only Puducherry seat voted today.

For live updates from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and all the other states voting today, click here.

The competition is tight mainly in three seats – Mandya, South Bengaluru and Tumkuru, during this phase of polling.

In Mandya, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy will be contesting against independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh. Nikhil is contesting with a JD(S) ticket.

In Tumkuru, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda will be holding the fort for his party JD(S). Against him, BJP has pitted GS Basvaraj against the JD(S) strongman. The JD(S) has never registered a win in the Lok Sabha elections from this seat.

Bangalore South, the seat that has made the most headlines in the run-up to this election sees BJP’s young, 28-year-old candidate Tejasvi Surya contest from the seat previously held by late Ananth Kumar. Surya will go against Congress’ BK Hari Prasad in Bangalore South.

In Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi, Kanyakumari, Sivaganga and Nilgiris are being considered the key constituencies this year, with DMK’s Kanimozhi, A Raja and Congress’ Karti Chidambaram, along with BJP’s H Raja fighting for these seats.

In Kanyakumari, its BJP’s Pon Radhakrishnan versus Congress’ H Vasanthakumar. Thoothukudi, on the other hand, will see DMK’s Kanimozhi go against Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti P Chidambaram will contest against BJP’s H Raja in Sivaganga, considered the Chidambaram family’s stronghold.

The Lok Sabha election to the Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu was cancelled on Tuesday, 16 April by the Election Commission (EC), less than two days ahead of the polling following recovery of huge amount of cash, allegedly from an associate of a DMK leader.

The EC notification said in the commission’s considered opinion, conducting the poll in Vellore in such a vitiated atmosphere would "severely jeopardise the conduct of free and fair election."

The key contest in 2019 polls in Puducherry is expected to take place among Congress’ VE Vaithilingam, BSP’s AG Pathimaraj, Dr MAS Subramanian, Dr Narayanasamy Kesavan of the All India NR Congress.

In 2014, R Radhakrishnan of the All India NR Congress had defeated Congress candidate V Narayanasamy by more than 60,000 votes.

Voting has begun in the second phase of polls.

Given the four-day holiday, huge crowds gathered in Chennai’s Central railway station and state bus stand on Thursday morning.

Protests erupted at Koyambedu bus stand at night as many people did not get a bus even after waiting for hours. Police resorted to mild lathi charge as the crowd protested against non-availability of buses to various parts of the state. With passengers stranded, many questioned why no special arrangements were made.

People queue up outside polling stations in Girinagar area of Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, Karnataka to cast their votes in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was among the first to vote in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga constituency.

Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth cast his vote at the polling station in Stella Maris College, in Chennai Central parliamentary constituency on Thursday morning. “Everyone should vote,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Thursday morning ahead of the polling, urging youngsters to go and cast their votes.

Congress candidate from Sivaganga Karti Chidambaram, along with his mother Nalini Chidambaram and his wife Srinidi Rangarajan cast their votes at a polling station in Karaikudi, Sivaganga on Thursday morning.

Tejasvi Surya, the BJP’s candidate from Bengaluru South, cast his vote on Thursday morning, saying, “I urge people to cast their ballot”, reported Times Now.

A practising lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, an RSS swayamsevak, the general secretary of the state for Yuva Morcha and also a part of the national social media team of the BJP, Surya takes on Congress’ BK Hariprasad in one of the most conservative constituencies in Bengaluru.

Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, cast his vote in Edappadi, Salem in phase two of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Popular actor Vijay was standing in the queue at Saligramam in Chennai to cast his vote on Thursday morning.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at a polling booth in Jayanagar area of Bangalore South parliamentary constituency on Thursday morning to cast her vote in the polls.

Polling agents stopped voting at seven booths in Madurai constituency in Tamil Nadu after finding a "suspicious" sticker pasted in EVMs that read "AIADMK", reported Firstpost.

Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan and his daughter Shruti Haasan queue up outside a polling station at Alwarpet Corporation School in Chennai to cast their votes.

MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the polling station in Bengaluru's Koramangala.

Polling is yet to begin due to an EVM malfunction at booth number 27 in Eldams road in Corporation school where Kamal Haasan has arrived cast his vote.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan cast her vote in Chennai. She is contesting against DMK's Kanimozhi from Thoothudi constituency.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cast her vote at a polling booth in Jayanagar of Bangalore South parliamentary constituency on Thursday morning.

Voting has begun at the polling booth in Eldams Road where Kamal Haasan has queued up to cast his vote.

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi cast her vote in the Puducherry Lok Sabha polls on Thursday morning. She also tweeted, saying “Responsible Voting.”

Karnataka Deputy CM G Parameshwara cast his vote with his family in Tumkur's Siddharta Nagar polling booth, reported The News Minute.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy cast his vote at a polling station on Thursday morning.

Actors Suriya and Jyothika have arrived at a polling booth to cast their votes.

Independent candidate from Bengaluru Central, Prakash Raj queues up at a polling booth, to cast his vote in the Karnataka Lok Sabha polls.

Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan and his daughter Shruti Haasan cast their votes at a polling station at Alwarpet Corporation School in Chennai.

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has cast her vote.

Oscar-winning music director AR Rahman tweeted after casting his vote, saying “Done, have you?”

While polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm in 37 constituencies, polling in Madurai has been extended by two hours until 8 pm in the Madurai Lok Sabha segment, due to the Chithirai festival, which marks the grand entry of Lord Kallazhagar into the Vaigai river.

Kanimozhi, DMK Lok Sabha candidate from Thoothukudi cast her vote at a polling station in Chennai's Alwarpet.

RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale cast his vote at a polling station in Seshadripuram.

BJP candidate for Sivaganga constituency H Raja cast his vote at a polling station in Karaikudi, Sivaganga.

DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan cast his vote at a polling station in Mylapore, in Chennai South parliamentary constituency.

DMK President MK Stalin and his wife are standing in queue at SIET college to cast their vote.

Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy and their son and JD(S) candidate from Mandya, Nikhil, cast their votes at a polling station in Ramanagara.

DMK President MK Stalin cast his vote at polling booth at SIET College in Teynampet.

With the second phase of polling underway, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, When you vote today, remember that you vote for Nyay.”

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dinakaran cast his vote at a polling station in Besant Nagar in Chennai South parliamentary constituency.

The voter turnout in three Bengaluru constituencies stood as follows, according to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike:

• Bengaluru Central- 5.4 percent
• Bengaluru North - 6.39 percent
• Bengaluru South- 9.23 percent

Voting in some polling booths in Tamil Nadu was delayed on 18 April owing to technical problems with EVMs, as per reports.

Estimated voting percentage till 10 am in the following constituencies is as follows:

• Bangalore South - 8.56 percent
• Bangalore Rural - 6.31 percent
• Bangalore North - 6.40 percent
• Mandya - 6.05 percent
• Dakshina Kannada - 14.94 percent

• 4.5 percent in North Chennai
• 5.6 percent in South Chennai
• 3.71 percent in Chennai Central

Senior citizen Krishnan, a 74-year-old, fell unconscious and died at Omalur polling booth in Salem on Thursday morning.

Former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda and his wife cast their votes at a polling station in Hassan's Paduvalahippe.

In Thorappadi Government School in Kadalur, voting continued without scrubbing the 50 'trial votes' that were cast to test the EVMs. The voting has consequently been stopped, due to public pressure.

State BJP Vice President Tejaswini Ananth Kumar cast her vote for Lok Sabha Elections at the polling station in Sri Vasavi Vidya Niketan in Bengaluru's Basavanagudi.

A polling officer dies of heart attack in polling booth number 48 near Sultan Sharif Circle of Chamarajanagar district. According to police, around 9 am he collapsed at the booth and was declared dead at a hospital.

Sumalatha, who is contesting as an independent candidate, cast her vote in Karnataka’s Mandya.

Congress leader DK Shivkumar and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah cast their ballot in Bengaluru Rural and Mysore constituencies respectively.

Puducherry recorded 23 percent voting till noon for the lone Lok Sabha seat, which is witnessing a battle between the ruling Congress and opposition AINRC.

“We have changed 305 EVMs in Tamil Nadu as they were malfunctioning,” chief election officer Satyabrata Sahoo said.

A clash has broken out between supporters of the Congress and independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is standing from Mandya.

The voter turnout for by-elections to 18 constituencies in Tamil Nadu till 1 pm was recorded at 42.92 percent.

The highest turnout was recorded in Dakshina Kannada district with 48.84 percent and the lowest in Bangalore central with 28.65 percent till 1 pm, poll officials cited by PTI said.

The presiding officer of booth 35 at the United Theological College in Bengaluru has been removed by the EC on charges of influencing voters. Some voters at the booth had purportedly alleged that she had been influencing voters to vote for candidate number 2 belonging to the BJP. However, the EC clarified that the charges levelled were not proven as of yet.

Three senior citizens collapsed and died after exercising their franchise for the Lok Sabha polls in three districts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, the police said.

Balakrishnan of Coimbatore fainted after coming out of the booth. He died on his way to the hospital, the police said.

Similarly, Murugesan collapsed and breathed his last at a booth in Erode, they said.

Likewise, Krishnan died after casting his vote in Salem, the police said.

All the three were in their mid-60s, they added.

(PTI)

A complaint was filed on Thursday with the EC by two advocates over PM Narendra Modi addressing two rallies in Karnataka’s Bagalkote and Chikkodi on the day the state is voting in 14 constituencies.

Sixty-six percent voter turnout was recorded in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on Thursday, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said.

The voter turnout in the 18 Assembly constituencies where bypolls were held in Tamil Nadu was 71.62 percent till 7 pm.

The Karnataka BJP has written to the Election Commission over alleged “mass indiscriminate deletion of voters’ names in the voters’ list”.

Voting was extended by two hours and continued till 8 pm in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai in view of the Chithirai festival.