Woman gives birth with help from officials and voters inside polling booth during Karnataka Elections in Ballari. (Credits: Reuters)
Female officials and women voters at the premise provided assistance during the delivery, according to a report
A polling booth in Kurlagindi village in Ballari district became a makeshift delivery room after a 23-year-old woman went into labor when she arrived to cast her vote for the Karnataka Assembly elections on Wednesday.
Female officials and women voters at the premise provided assistance during the delivery, according to a report by the New Indian Express.
In a separate incident at Sanjeevarayanakote in Ballari district, some Congress and BJP workers came to blows.
As of 3 pm, the voter turnout for the Karnataka Assembly elections had surpassed 50%. The total voter turnout across the state was recorded at 52.18%, with three hours remaining until the polling ended at 6 pm. The highest voter turnout of 63.36% was reported in Ramanagara, while the lowest turnout was observed in parts of Bengaluru city under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) South limits at 40.28%, according to election officials.
According to the election commission, 2,615 candidates are contesting in the state Assembly elections held across 58,545 polling stations. The state has a total of 5,31,33,054 eligible voters, of which 2,67,28,053 are male, 2,64,00,074 are female, and 4,927 belong to the “others” category. Out of the candidates, 2,430 are male, 184 are female, and one is from the third gender.
In the battle for Karnataka, the main contenders are the BJP in power, the Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular) led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, making it a three-way race.
During the 2018 Karnataka Assembly polls, the state witnessed a voter turnout of 72.36%. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, followed by Congress with 80 seats and JD(S) with 37 seats. There was also one independent member, while the BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) got one legislator each elected. As no party was able to secure a clear majority, the Congress and JD(S) tried to form an alliance, but BJP’s BS Yediyurappa, being the single largest party, staked a claim and formed the government.
However, his government lasted only three days as it was dissolved before the trust vote as Yediyurappa was unable to gather enough support. The Congress-JD(S) alliance subsequently formed the government with H.D. Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister, but the government fell in 14 months as 17 legislators resigned and joined the BJP. In the subsequent bypolls held in 2019, the ruling party won 12 out of 15 seats.
The ruling BJP currently holds 116 MLAs in the outgoing Assembly, followed by Congress with 69, JD(S) with 29, BSP with one, independents with two, and six vacant seats due to deaths and resignations to join other parties ahead of the polls.
(With inputs from PTI)
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