Polling peaceful in Bellary; 72% cast votes

BELLARY: The much hyped byelection for the Bellary Rural Constituency (ST) passed off peacefully without any untoward incident amid tight security on Wednesday.Polling in rural areas that began at a snail’s pace, later picked up and by the end of the day it clocked 71.65 percent. Voters from 65 villages lined up at booths and sealed the fate of the main contenders P Gadlilingappa (BJP), B Ramprasad (Congress) and B Sriramulu (Independent) besides five other Independent candidates.Given the importance attached to the bypoll, around 2,500 security staff involving three platoons of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and one platoon of Border  Security Force, 10 units of KSRP besides district police, manned the security. While eight security staff, including police, paramilitary force personnel and home guards manned security at each normal polling booth, at each sensitive polling booth, 12 security staff maintained vigil. Tight security was in place.Security staff maintained a distance of 100 metres from polling booths, where only voters were allowed.Gadilingappa, after casting his vote at a booth in Hagari village, told reporters that since he was born and brought up in a rural area, he knew the problems faced by villagers and said  that he would serve the constituency honestly if voted to power.Raichur MP and Sriramulu’s cousin Sannafakirappa, told reporters after casting his vote at a school in Cowl Bazaar that former minister G Janardhana Reddy  would be consulted before launching their own party. Sriramulu too reiterated this while  speaking to reporters in Bellary. Expressing hope that Sriramulu would win by  a big majority, Sannafakirappa said he had not received any communique from the party on his suspension from the party.Congress candidate B Ramprasad offered puja at Shri Kanaka Durgamma temple before casting his vote.