Karnataka bypolls: Voting in RR Nagar, Shira begins

The byelection to two assembly constituencies in Karnataka, namely Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) in Bengaluru and Shira in Tumakuru, is underway. Voting will continue till 6pm at 678 polling stations in RR Nagar and 330 others in Sira on Tuesday.

Bengaluru: The byelection to two assembly constituencies in Karnataka, namely Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) in Bengaluru and Shira in Tumakuru, is underway.

The voting for the constituencies began at 7am and will go up till 6pm.

A voting population of 6,78,012 (including 3,26,114 women) are eligible to exercise their franchise during the day, even amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Bypoll to RR Nagar was necessitated after the seat fell vacant in July last year after Congress MLA, N Munirathna, defected to the BJP.

While Munirathna is the BJP candidate this time, the Congress has fielded H Kusuma, who was the wife of the IAS officer DK Ravi who died in 2015.

The Shira seat fell vacant after the JD(S) candidate B Satyanarayana, an advocate who won the 2018 polls, succumbed to a chronic illness on August 4.

The Congress has fielded senior leader and former minister TB Jayachandra, expecting a seventh chance to make him a legislator. Meanwhile, Dr CM Rajesh Gowda, son of former Congress MP C P Mudalagiriyappa, is the BJP candidate while JD(S) has fielded Ammajamma, wife of the late MLA Sathyanarayana, as their candidate.

Meanwhile, those who have been infected by the coronavirus and those suspected to be infected will be allowed to cast their vote between 5pm and 6pm today for the RR Nagar Assembly constituency.