Karnataka bypolls: Voting began in 15 assembly segments

Bengaluru: The polling in the 15 assembly constituencies in the state began peacefully at 0700 hrs on Thursday.

The voting began on slow peace and it would be pick up later in the day. As many as 37.78 lakh people were expected to cast their votes in 4,185 polling stations. There are also 4,711 service voters.

The constituencies going to by-polls were Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagar, Chikballapur, KR Puram, Yeshwanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagar, Hoskote, KR Pet and Hunsur.

By-elections in two Assembly segments--Muski (Raichur district) and R R  Nagar (Bengaluru) have been withheld due to litigation in the Karnataka High Court over their results in the May 2018 state Assembly elections.

The by-elections were being held to fill the vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs, whose rebellion led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power.The results would be declared on December 9.(UNI)