Bengaluru: Bypolls to two Assembly seats today

Bengaluru:The by-polls to two Assembly constituencies -- Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru Urban district and Sira in Tumakuru district-- will take place on Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in the two constituencies where the total number of voters is 6,78,012 including 3,26,114 women.

The death of Sira MLA B Satyanarayana, who was from the JD(S) and resignation of RR Nagar Congress MLA Munirathna last year, led to the by-elections. There will be 1,008 polling stations, comprising 678 in RR Nagar and 330 in Sira, Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said in a statement. According to sources, in view of the pandemic, thermal screening will be done and hand sanitisers will be available at the polling stations. Security will be tightened around the polling stations. According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, who is the returning officer of the by-election at RR Nagar, separate arrangements have been made for Covid-19 infected people to cast their votes in the evening. There are a total 31 candidates in the fray in the by-polls -- 15 in Sira and 16 in RR Nagar including those from the Congress, BJP and the JD(S).

In RR Nagar, the BJP has fielded former Congress MLA Munirathna as its candidate whereas the Congress has given ticket to H Kusuma, wife of former IAS officer late D K Ravi in the seat traditionally held by the party. The JD(S) has fielded V Krishnamurthy. The RR Nagar has become a prestigious issue for both the Congress and the BJP. The BJP had earlier held this constituency which Munirathna had wrested as the Congress MLA.

This is part of the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency which is represented by D K Suresh, the brother of Congress State chief D.K. Shivakumar. In Sira, the BJP, Congress and JD(S) have fielded radiologist Dr Rakesh Gowda, former minister T B Jayachandra and former (JD-S) MLA B Satyanarayana's wife Ammajamma respectively. The BJP has never won the election from there, but this time, the party would try to turn the tables on the Congress and the JD(S). Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's son and BJP state vice president B Y Vijayendra led the election campaign here.