Mangalore : At the end of the polling day, around 59 per cent voters among one million electorate exercised their franchise in 1027 polling stations of 35 Zilla Panchayat and 129 Taluk Panchayat constituencies on Dec 31, Friday.
Sullia taluk witnessed the highest polling with 71.98 per cent, followed by Puttur with 69.36 per cent), Mangalore with 65.22 per cent and Belthangady with 50.61 per cent. The lowest voting of 46.67 per cent was seen in Bantwal taluk.
The case of election malpractice was reported from Bantwal taluk, under the limits of Golthamajal Zilla Panchayath, to which a team of police arrested 16 people belonging to both Congress and BJP for violating the code of conduct.
According to Mangalore City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh and Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police A Subramanyeshwara Rao the polling was held peacefully except in some sensitive areas.
The polling process began at 7 am and concluded at around 5 pm in the evening. Few polling booths initially complained about the defects in EVMs but it was replaced in a short time.
Whereas in Udupi district received the total of 66 percent polling, Udupi witnessed approximate polling with 63.5 percent, Kundapur with 65 percent and Karkala with 69 percent.