Karnataka By-Elections 2018: Bellary records highest turnout

Nearly six months after the high-pitched political drama in state assembly elections 2018, by-polls to three Lok Sabha and two assembly segments in Karnataka started on Saturday, November 3, 2018. The polls are significant as it will test the Congress-Janata Dal-Secular combine, who has been questioned many a time over the longevity of their government.

The coalition partners, however, have termed the November 3 by-polls a 'prelude' to the May 2019 Lok Sabha elections and called for a united opposition to root out the ruling BJP at the national level.

The high-voltage campaign, which ended on Thursday, was apparently a blame game for the BJP and the JDS-Congress Combine as they slammed each other over various issues, including defections.

Meanwhile, in a big blow to the BJP, its candidate against Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's wife returned to the Congress two days before the Ramanagara assembly by-poll. With L Chandrashekar quitting the party, it is expected to be a cakewalk for Kumaraswamy's wife Anita Kumaraswamy in Ramanagara.

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Polling in the by-polls to three Lok Sabha seats  - Ballari, Shivamogga, Mandya and two assembly segments Ramanagara and Jamkhandi will be held between 7 am to 6 pm Saturday, with a total of 54,54,275 voters eligible to cast their franchise in about 6,450 polling stations.

There are a total of 31 candidates in the fray in all the five constituencies, though the contest is mainly between the Congress-JDS combine and the BJP.

While the Congress has fielded its candidates in Jamkhandi and Ballari, JD-S is contesting in Shivamogga, Ramanagara and Mandya under an electoral understanding.

Karnataka: #Earlyvisuals from a polling station in Bellary; voting for three parliamentary constituencies — Bellary, Shimoga, Mandya and two legislative assembly constituencies—Jamkhandi, Ramanagaram began at 7 am today. pic.twitter.com/7tqZ1b6ou2

— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2018

In Jamkhandi, Congress candidate Anand Nyamagowda, son of former MLA Siddu Nyamagouda, is pitted against Srikant Kulkarni of the BJP.

In Shivamogga, state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra is testing his fortunes against another former chief minister Bangarappa’s son Madhu Bangarappa of the JD-S.

In Bellary, senior BJP leader Sriramulu’s sister J Shantha is fighting against VS Ugrappa of the Congress, considered an outsider.

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In the Vokkaliga bastion of Mandya, JD-S’s Shivarame Gowda is pitted against a fresh face in Dr Siddaramaiah, a retired Commercial Tax officer from the BJP.

Counting of votes will take place on November 6.

Congress and JDS came together in a post-poll alliance after the May 2018 assembly elections. The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the assembly poll, was eight seats short of the majority mark (112) while the Congress-JDS coalition had the support of 116 members in the Karnataka Assembly.

Therefore, the JDS-Congress combine had decided to face the polls unitedly against the BJP, which they consider as their common enemy.

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Here are the highlights of Karnataka by-election 2018: