Bangalore logs a turnout of 54.1%, worse than 2014 polls, which was 56%

Scores of Gavipura residents in south Bengaluru did not caste their right to vote as they waited for the EVMs to be brought to their homes on Thursday. The local leaders arrived in the area, occupied by poor families who eke out a living as domestic helps and laborers and promised them Rs. 1,000 per vote and told them the EVMs would be brought to them and they should not risk stepping out to vote. "My neighbors scolded me for voting in the booth. Many of them waited till 7pm thinking someone would turn up with the machines and money," said Lakshmamma (name changed).

As India's IT capital put in yet another poor show on voting day such stories kept doing rounds, logging a turnout of 54.1%, worse than the records in 2014, which was 56%. Bengaluru South logged the lowest turnout, at 53.5%, among the three seats in the city. This is former Union minister Ananth Kumar's seat where BJP has fielded 28-year-old Tejaswi Surya. The highest poll at 68% was Bengaluru Rural. Bengaluru North polled 54.6%, where Union minister Sadananda Gowda is pitted against state minister Krishna Byregowda.

Authorities say the long weekend proved too hard to resist. Voting day fell between Mahavir Jayanthi and Good Friday, which are two government holidays and many filed out of the city long before voting day. Moreover, since Bengalureans move town and home for work and college and limited managed to update their addresses. Thus missing names and random deletion of voters' names was also a major issue, this time in polls.