Mangaluru :The Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency witnessed a 77.44% voter turnout till voting end, with the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency closely following at 72.13%.

Dakshina Kannada district, Beltangady saw 75.59%, Bantwal 73.69%, Puttur 75.2%, Mangaluru 73.45%, Sullia 78.35%, Moodbidiri 68.62%, Mangaluru North 69.75%, and Mangaluru South 61.81% turnout by 5 pm. Meanwhile, in Udupi district, Karkala recorded 73.53%, Kaup 74.50%, Kundapur 74.28%, Chikkamagaluru 66.13%, Mudigere 73.48%, Sringeri 58.64%, and Tarikere 69.06% by 3 pm.

Highest polling in Mangalore

Across 1,876 booths in Dakshina Kannada and 1,842 polling stations in the Udupi-Chikmagalur segment, the polling process is currently ongoing.

The Dakshina Kannada battleground is set for a tight competition between Captain Brijesh Chowta of the BJP and Padmaraj R Poojary from the Congress. In the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency, the spotlight is on Kota Shrinivas Poojary representing the BJP and K Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress.

However, delays surfaced due to technical glitches at a polling station in Karopady and at St. Xavier School Bejai, causing nearly a two-hour delay in polling.