Bengaluru, 13 Nov

An estimated 76.9 per cent voters turned out till 5pm in three Assembly segments of Karnataka where bypolls were held on Wednesday, election officials said.

More than 7 lakh voters were eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates were in the fray.

Bypolls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna were necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives— E Tukaram of Congress, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S) — to Lok Sabha in the May elections.

Channapatna has the highest number of 31 candidates in the fray, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.

The bypolls witnessed a straight fight between Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S), which is part of the NDA, is in contest against the grand old party.

Among the three segments, Channapatna is considered to be a 'high profile', where the contest is between CP Yogeeshwara, a five-time MLA and former minister, who joined Congress quitting BJP recently, and actor-turned-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is Kumaraswamy’s son.

Yogeeshwara, after casting his vote, said there was a "good atmosphere" and he felt that the people of Channapatna were with the Congress. Nikhil said he would work for the welfare of the people of the segment.

BJP's Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj, had a direct fight against Congress' Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former chief minister in the 2023 Assembly polls, in Shiggaon.

Expressing confidence about his son's win with a big margin, Basavaraj hit out at Congress accusing it of using "government machinery, money power and also caste" during campaigning. —PTI