As many as 36,691 citizens aged above 85 and 12,957 Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) have opted to vote from home in the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies that will go to polls on April 26 in Karnataka.
Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka, said that the vote from home that began on Saturday will go on till April 18.
According to data from the Election Commission, Dakshina Kannada has the highest number of senior citizens (aged above 85) who have opted to vote from home. As many as 6,053 citizens from this constituency have given their consent to vote from home in the Form 12 D. Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, where 4,665 senior citizens have opted for this facility, follows Dakshina Kannada. Chamarajanagar has the least at 982, data showed.
In the PwD category, Chitradurga constituency tops the list with 2,059 persons opting for the facility. This is followed by Dakshina Kannada where 1,975 PwDs have opted for it. Bengaluru South constituency has the least where only 54 PwDs have opted for the facility, according to data.
57.91% voting registered in three constituencies in Bengaluru
In Bengaluru’s three constituencies, of 6,407 voters, 3,710 senior citizens and PwDs have cast their votes on the first day. With 70.14%, Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency has registered the highest voting percentage. In the Bengaluru Central constituency, of the 1,822 voters, about 1,278 people have voted. In Bengaluru North constituency, out of 2,062 voters, 945 have exercised their franchise. In Bengaluru South constituency, of the 2,523 voters, 1,487 people exercised their franchise.
The Congress candidate in Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency Mansoor Ali Khan has registered a complaint with the Election Commission of India alleging that some agents of the BJP accompanied poll officials to a few homes of elderly persons. The complaint said that poll officials in four or five homes were mute spectators to the violation of the model code of conduct. The agents were present in the homes when the elderly persons voted. He urged the ECI to suspend these poll officials.
Several voters dead before casting their vote
According to the data in Bengaluru Urban district in three constituencies, 18 people, mostly senior citizens, who enrolled for voting died and 16 were absent. About two persons refused to cast their votes when the polling officials turned up at their door.
Meanwhile nine elderly persons and two persons with disabilities who had opted for vote from home facility for the Lok Sabha elections, died before casting their votes in Mysuru district.
