A complaint and a counter-complaint have been lodged at the Bajpe police station here after Congress workers alleged that the supporters of Mangaluru North Janata Dal (Secular) candidate B A Mohiuddin Bava assaulted them on Tuesday night. Two Congress workers who were injured in the scuffle, Nizam and Hasher, have been admitted to a private hospital. Sources said the incident occurred when Congress workers intercepted a car alleging that the JD(S) candidate had brought money in a car to distribute to voters, which led to an altercation between the two groups. Later, both groups went to Bajpe police station where Bava’s supporters allegedly assaulted Nizam and Hasher in front of the candidate.
The injured Nizam used to work as Bava’s car driver and had recently pledged support to Mangaluru North Congress candidate Inayat Ali. JD(S) workers, in a counter complaint, alleged that Nizam and other Congress workers assaulted Bava, who also sought treatment at a hospital. Meanwhile, in Belthangady, police arrested town panchayat vice president Jayananda Gowda of BJP late night on Tuesday after he was caught red-handed distributing cash to voters.As the polling for the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly began at 7 am, a voter turnout of 37.25 per cent has been recorded till 1 pm, the Election Commission said. Over 5.2 crore voters will cast their votes to elect a new government in Karnataka today.A total of 5,31,33,054 electors are eligible to cast their votes in 58,545 polling stations across the state, where 2,615 candidates are in the fray for the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. Among the electors, 2,67,28,053 are male, 2,64,00,074 female and 4,927 “others”, while among the candidates 2,430 are male, 184 female and one from third gender.