Amid tight security polling in Rajarajeshwarinagar assembly constituency got underway on Monday morning. The elections to the assembly segment were deferred due to the seizure of 9,564 Election Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) from an apartment at Jalahalli.
The polling officers had also found a huge cache of freebies belonging to a political party. Following the directions of the Election Commission, police investigated the matter and registered a case against many people, including the Congress candidate Munirathna.
The office of the chief electoral officer stated in a press release that all the EPICs seized have been returned to the owners.
With the Congress and the JD(S) not tying up for the election despite a coalition government Munirathna will vie for the seat against JD(S) candidate GH Ramachandra. The BJP, which has fielded Muniraju Gowda, would be hoping to win the seat as a consolation price after losing out on power despite emerging as the single-largest party in the Assembly elections.
Besides the three, 11 other candidates are in the fray.
The constituency has 4.71 lakh voters including 2.25 lakh women. There are 421 polling stations in the constituency. Ten companies of CASF and 10 platoons of KSRP have been deployed to ensure free and fair poll, police said.
After the May 12 assembly elections, the equations have changed dramatically with political rivals Congress and JD(S) becoming coalition partners in the government.
However, senior leaders of both the parties held road shows seeking votes for their respective candidates.
BJP too put in all its efforts to ensure the victory of their candidate Muniraju Gowda.
