Polling amid violence, altercation, lathicharge

Mangalore Today/DHNS

Bangalore, May 5, 2013: Though the Assembly elections were by and large peaceful in the State on Sunday, there were minor incidents of clashes between workers of parties, in Kolar, Belgaum, Gadag and Mysore districts.

In what may go down as a blot on the Assembly elections, which otherwise went off smoothly, supporters of Minister Varthur Prakash and Congress workers clashed in Kolar on Sunday. Prakash is contesting as an Independent candidate from Kolar constituency.

Some of the Congress workers were brandishing lethal weapons, like machetes and iron rods, terrorising passersby outside the Government College for Boys polling booth. The incident created tension in and around the polling station for some time.

Police arrested Kumar, a Congress worker and seized a couple of machetes from him. They are on the lookout for CMC member from ward number 10, Prasad Babu, Lakshminarayan and Sandeep, who too were wielding lethal weapons.

The miscreants appeared on the scene at 9.45 am and started searching for Prakash’s supporters and abusing them. The police were taken aback for a few seconds and then tried to control the situation. They roamed around freely on the road, creating panic among the people.

Even as the police chased those carrying iron rods, others in the group of Congress workers took out the machetes in their possession. Police then took Kumar into custody.

 

The police were taking Babu in a van to the station, but he managed to give them the slip. The constables were taken to task by the higher officials. Kumar said Prakash’s supporters had abused him in foul language, triggering his reaction. He said he had to take out weapons for self protection. IGP (Central range) Amar Kumar Pandey visited the spot.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner D S Vishwanath said it was a clash over personal rivalry, 200 metres away from the polling booth, and had nothing to do with the election. He said the police had acted swiftly to bring the situation under control. Vishwanath said the booth in question had recorded five per cent more voting than last time.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Bipin Gopalakrishna told Deccan Herald that the Kolar incident was the only major untoward incident in Sunday’s election. He said all the accused in the case would be booked under the Goonda Act. He said he was shocked by the brazenness of a councilor and his cohorts wielding lethal weapons near the polling booth. When asked about the ‘ineffectiveness’ of the police, he said it was not a failure of policing.

In Varuna constituency

Ka Pu Siddalingaswamy, who is contesting as the KJP candidate against Congress’ Siddaramaiah, was visiting a booth in Biligerehundi, when a polling officer stopped him at the door. The officer asked for the mandatory pass, which is required for one to enter the booth.

When Siddalingaswamy responded that he was indeed carrying the pass, a few KJP workers in the vicinity raised slogans in his favour, thus enraging the Congress workers. This led to a wordy duel and workers of the two parties engaged in a war of words for some time.

Though some of the KJP workers succeeded in pacifying Siddalingaswamy to continue his journey in his car, two other cars in the convoy were stoned by the Congress workers. However, nobody sustained injuries. A case has been registered at T Narsipur police station.

In another incident, KJP workers at Mosambayanahalli caught hold of a proxy voter. However, they let him off with a warning.

The KJP workers alleged that the man was from neighbouring Sajjehundi village, but was making a bid to cast a vote in Mosambayanahalli.

There was a verbal duel between workers of the two parties at Thiragasur village also.

MES vs BJP

The BJP candidate from Belgaum South constituency and sitting MLA, Abhay Patil, was allegedly assaulted by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) candidate Sambhaji Patil near a polling station at Vadgaon.

BJP candidate Patil objected to MES candidate Patil’s act of abusing and threatening his supporter Sarika Patil, over being a Marathi speaker and yet not supporting him. After a verbal duel, MES candidate Patil assaulted BJP candidate Patil and tore his shirt. It led to panic among the voters in the polling station on the premises of the Government Marathi Higher Primary School.

The BJP candidate complained against the act of the MES candidate to District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Munish Moudgil and Superintendent of Police Sandeep Patil.

BJP candidate Patil also complained that goons of MES had waylaid him at Dhamnae village on Saturday night and had assembled in large numbers there, despite prohibitory orders being in place.

Sandeep Patil said cases of violation of prohibitory orders would be filed against MES candidate Patil, besides cases of assaulting the BJP candidate and threatening the woman supporter.

He said all measures were taken to ensure that people voted freely and adequate security personnel were deployed.

BJP candidate Patil told reporters that people needed to understand the MES leaders and their goonda activities. The Marathi-speaking people were with all parties and they could not be forced to vote for MES.

Clash in Shidlaghatta

JD(S) workers Khattu, Khaiser, Hijju and Khadir allegedly attacked Congress worker Baba Jaan near booth number 140 of Mehboob Nagar. The JD(S) workers allegedly saw Baba Jaan bringing voters to the polling booth in an autorickshaw.

This led to a war of words between Baba Jaan and the JD(S) men. The latter then attacked him with lethal weapons. The Congress worker, who suffered serious injuries in the head, was taken to a hospital in Bangalore for treatment.

Congress and JD(S) workers pelted stones at each other at Anemadugu village of Shidlaghatta taluk. They were reports of clashes between workers of the two parties in Tadur and Ganganahalli villages too.

JD(S) candidate attacked

Four unidentified men attacked JD(S) candidate from the Bangarpet seat, Ramachandra, on his head with a club near Doddur-Karapanahalli in Bangarpet taluk in the early hours of Sunday. The incident occurred while he was returning after meeting a few party leaders.

The miscreants came on two motorcycles, waylaid the SUV (Tata Sumo) in which the candidate was travelling and assaulted him. The window panes of the SUV were also damaged. Ramachandra underwent treatment at the government hospital in the town and was later taken to the Devaraj Urs Medical College Hospital for further treatment. He then cast his vote at Palavathimmanahalli. Political rivalry is said to be the reason for the attack.

Kodihalli in Chintamani taluk of Chikkaballapur district saw a verbal duel between supporters of Independent candidate M C Sudhakar and JD(S) candidate J K Krishna Reddy.

Supporters of Reddy are said to have attacked four supporters of Sudhakar. The situation was, however, brought under control by police officers who rushed to the spot on hearing about the matter.

The four injured men were taken to the hospital for treatment, said the police.

Personal rivalry

Congress workers allegedly attacked Sagar BJP unit president S V Krishnamurthy over personal rivalry. Krishnamurthy was attacked near a polling booth at Gandhi Nagar Layout in Sagar at around 11:30 am. The town police have registered a complaint.

The sitting MLA from Bhadravathi, B K Sangamesh, who is facing the polls as an Independent candidate has lodged a complaint against JD(S) workers.

It is learnt that as the legislator stepped into a polling booth at Ujjanipura at around 2.30 pm, JD(S) workers who were present there opposed his entry. Heated argument broke out between the JD(S) workers and the MLA. However, the police personnel who were present there succeeded in bringing the situation under control. The MLA then lodged a complaint against three JD(S) workers at Paper Town police station.

Lathicharge incidents

Election officials and voters exchanged heated words when the latter tried to enter a prohibited area at Anantapur village of Athani taluk in Belgaum district. There were also instances of the voters clashing with the polling authorities over not finding their names in the voters’ list.

Police resorted to lathi charge when the situation was going out of hand. Later, voters held a protest against the lathi charge and threw stones at a couple of police jeeps and a KSRTC bus in the village. Athani sub-inspector Shankaragouda Basanagoudar was injured in the incident.

Workers of two parties and Independent candidates clashed at a polling station in the Jali Gram Panchayat limits of Bhatkal taluk of Uttara Kannada district. There was a war of words and they almost came to blows. Police resorted to lathi charge to bring back normalcy.

Police resorted to mild caning in Naragunda (Gadag district) to avert a clash between workers of two political parties.

A verbal duel ensued between Congress and BJP workers while they were soliciting votes at the polling station in Government Model School. Police had to disperse the mobs to bring the situation under control. Similar incidents occurred at Dandapura and Somapura polling stations