Mangalore, Apr 17: After a months of preparation for the Lok Sabha election, the polling has finally begun in Dakshina Kannnada Constituency on April 17 at 7 am. People in large number were seen queued up outside various polling stations in Mangalore.
Reportedly, a total of 1564093 voters in DK including 7,90.423 female voters and 7,73,602 men voters will decide the fate of 14 candidates including Janardhan Poojary of Congress, Nalin Kumar Kateel of BJP, M R Vasudeva of Aam Aadmi Party, Yadavn Shetty of CPI (M), Haneef Khan of SDPI, Moosa Kunhi alias Abdul Karim of BSP, Supreeth Kumar Poojary of Hindustan Janata Party, and Independents Sudatt Jain, Advocate Ananda Gatty, K Kushala Bellare, Deepak Rajesh Coelho, Maxim Pinto, Subrahmanya Gowda and K N Soma Shekar.
BJP candidate Nalin Kumar Kateel and his wife cast their votes at 8 am at their polling booth in Ladyhill, while Congress candidate Janardhan Poojary cast his vote at his polling booth in Bantwal.
MLA JR Lobo and his wife cast their votes at St. Theresa School Bendore, while Mangalore Bishop Rev. Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza exercised his franchise at Ganapathy High School.
The election commission for the first time provided an opportunity to reject all the candidates by opting for the NOTA (None of the Above) button in the EVM.
The police department have made tight security arrangements across the district to ensure fair and free elections.
The counting and results will be on May 16.
The percentages in the Assembly constituencies are as follows: (at 12.30pm)
Beltangady – 36.65 percent / Moodbidri – 34.04 percent / Mangalore North – 31.44 percent /Mangalore South – 31.25 percent / Mangalore (Ullal) – 32. 25 percent /Bantwal – 34. 11 percent /Puttur – 40.85 percent / Sullia – 42.36 percent.
Mangalore, Apr 17: At 4.20 pm, the percentage of polling recorded in Dakshina Kannada stood at 62.16.
Update : 4.45 pm
The percentages across the constituencies are as follows: Dakshina Kannada Total 62.16 percent
Beltangady – 64.10 percent / Moodbidri – 63.28 percent /Mangalore North – 56.55 percent /Mangalore South – 58.49 percent / Mangalore (Ullal) – 59.23 percent / Bantwal – 55.35 percent / Puttur – 69.84 percent / Sullia – 72.23 percent.