Chikkodi leads as polling picks up pace in Karnataka's 14 LS seats

Bengaluru, May 7 (IANS) Karnataka on Tuesday recorded 41.59 per cent of voting for the 14 Lok Sabha seats by 1 p.m., said officials here.

The Chikkodi Parliamentary seat recorded the highest voting at 45.69 per cent. The constituency is seeing a tough fight between BJP’s Anna Sahed Jolle and Priyanka Jarkiholi, the daughter of state Minister of PWD, Satish Jarkiholi.

High profile Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat, from where former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s son B.Y. Raghavendra is contesting against ex-CM late S. Bangarappa’s daughter Geetha Shivarajkumar and expelled BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa, recorded 44.98 per cent of the voting. The segment had recorded 27.22 per cent voting till 11 a.m. and 11.39 per cent till 9 a.m.

Uttara Kannada Parliamentary segment registered a voter turnout of 44.22 per cent in the third round. Former Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri from BJP is contesting against Congress candidate Dr. Anjali Nimbalkar from here.

Another high-profile Parliamentary segment Dharwad from where Union Minister Pralhad Joshi is contesting had seen 40.61 per cent of voting. It had seen 9.38 per cent polling in the first two hours and 24 per cent of polling by 11 a.m. Joshi is contesting against a fresh face from the Congress party Vinod Asuti.

The Kalaburagi segment from where Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani is contesting recorded 37.48 per cent of voting. Radha Krishna is facing sitting MP Umesh Jadhav from BJP.

The Haveri Lok Sabha seat saw 43.26 per cent of voting. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai is contesting as a BJP candidate from here.

Belagavi constituency recorded 40.57 per cent. Former CM Jagadish Shettar is the BJP candidate from this segment.

Ballary Lok Sabha segment from where BJP’s B. Sriramulu is contesting has seen 44.36 per cent polling.

The Bagalkot Lok Sabha seat recorded 41.91 per cent, Bijapur 39.87 per cent, Raichur 38.06 per cent, Bidar 37.97 per cent, Koppal 42.74 per cent, and Davanagere 42.32 per cent.

The Election Commission is also holding a by-election for the Shorapur Assembly constituency in the Yadgir district. The voting percentage stood at 39.74. The BJP has fielded Raju Gowda aka Narasimha Naik as its candidate and Raja Venugopal Naik is the Congress candidate. The bye-election is being held following the death of the Congress MLA Raja Venkatappa Naik.