Around 70% voter turnout in Karnataka
New Delhi, May 12: Around 70 per cent voters exercised their franchise for Karnataka Assembly polls on Saturday, the Election Commission said here.
Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said the figure was likely to go up as data was still being collated from various polling stations where people queued up beyond 6 p.m. when the voting was supposed to end.
"As of now, the total turnout figure received is 70 per cent. However, we expect this number to increase, and hope it surpasses that of the previous elections," he said.
The Election Commission said the polling percentage may breach the 71.4 per cent mark recorded in the 2013 Assembly election in Karnataka which has nearly 5.07 crore voters.
Sinha said the highest polling of 76 per cent was recorded in Chikkaballapura and Ramanagara while Bengaluru Urban had the lowest turnout at 48 per cent.
Some 2,654 candidates, including 216 women, are in the fray for 222 seats out of a total 224. Voting was deferred in two constituencies.
Counting of votes will take place on May 15.
Sinha said the "seizure of cash, liquor and other goods was to the tune of Rs 186 crore, which was six times more than the Lok Sabha and eight times more than the Assembly election in 2013".
He said there 26 cases of paid news reported across the state, out of which 15 cases have been proved as paid news.
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At least 2 dead and 12 missing after fishing boat sinks off South Korea's Jeju island
Seoul(AP): A fishing boat capsized and sank off the coast of South Korea's Jeju island Friday, leaving at least two people dead and 12 others unaccounted for, coast guard officials said.
Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead after being brought to shore. The other 13 did not sustain life-threatening injuries, said Kim Han-na, an official at Jeju's coast guard.
She said 27 crew members – 16 South Korean nationals and 11 foreigners – were on the 129-ton boat, which left Jeju's Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel. The coast guard received a distress signal at around 4:30 a.m. Friday from a nearby fishing vessel that conducted rescue efforts as the boat sank 24 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of the island.
At least 11 vessels and nine aircraft from South Korea's coast guard, police, fire service and military were deployed as of Friday morning to search for survivors. They were being assisted by 13 civilian vessels.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for officials to mobilize all available resources to find and rescue the missing crew members, his office said.
