A year since explosion, Bangalore nervous about April 17 voting

Bangalore, April 10: As

gets prepared for its one-phase polling on April 17, the citizens of the Silicon Valley of India also have a worry in the back of their minds and i.e., April 17 marks the first anniversary of the bomb

near the head office of the state BJP in the city.

The entire state of Karnataka is set to go to the polls on April 17. The area where the blast occurred falls under Bangalore Central constituency.

The explosion which occurred in Malleswaram area of north Bangalore in the peak hour of April 17 last year left 16 persons, including eight police personnel injured. There was no death however. A number of vehicles and nearby buildings were also damaged in the explosion.

The EC should have avoided April 17 as the polling date this year, feel many

The blast, which the home ministry confirmed as a terror attack later, was a powerful one and authorities said after probe that a stolen motorcycle was used for the operation. Ammonium nitrate was used as the explosive, probe said.

One year after, the people of Bangalore are yet to forget the shock. Speaking to Oneindia, P Kundan, who runs a shop in Malleswaram area, said it would have been better had the authorities not fix April 17 as the date of polling this year. It can be mentioned here that last year's explosion took place just weeks ahead of the Karnataka Assembly election in which the BJP lost badly.

L Sridhar, who was near the scene when the blast took place on April 17 last year, said the political parties are not ready to rake up the issue at this crucial moment for they fear to alienate certain vote-banks.

OneIndia News