Campaign for Third and final phase of polling in K'taka ends

Bangalore, May 20 (UNI) Campaign for the third and final phase of polling to 69 Assembly seats in eight Districts of Karnataka ended peacefully today.

As many as 1.19 crore electorate will exercise their franchise May 22 from 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs. There are 699 candidates including 284 independents for 69 assembly seats.

The districts which goes to poll for the third phase elections are Belgaum, Dharwar, Haveri, Bidar, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bhagalkot and Gadag.

The election fortunes of poilitical Stalwarts including former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh, K P C C President and former Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, former Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council H K Patil, former Ministers Gurupadappa Nagmarpalli,Jagadish Shettar, C M Udasi, Govind Karjol, will be sealed on Thursday.

Mr Dharam Singh aiming for a record win have represented the Jewargi for eight times consecutively, while Mr H K Patil testing his popularity for the first time in the Assembly election.

Bigwigs of all political leaders including Congress Supremo Sonia Gandhi, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha L K Advani, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayavati, Gujrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav were among others who campaigned for their respective candidates to woo the voters.

With curtain down for public campaign the candidates of all the political parties and their supporters have resorted to door-to-door campaign and making last minute efforts to woo the voters.

The turnout for the third phase election was expected to be low as it is being held in Northern part of Karantaka which is reeling under severe temperature. The situation in Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur and Bidar was still worse as average day's temperature in these districts are more than 41 degree Celsius.

While 66 per cent polling was recorded in 89 assembly constituencies as many as 66.3 per cent polling was reported in second phase.

The counting of votes will take place on May 25 in all the 29 districts.

UNI TEAM MV MSP SKB1720