First-time voters, elderly steal show in Karnataka Assembly polls
Bengaluru (PTI): And they were not small in numbers. According to Election Commission (EC) officials, as many as 11.71 lakh were eligible to exercise their franchise for the first time.
Of the total eligible voters, 16,914 are centenarians and 12.16 lakh above the age of 80.
Theme-based and ethnic polling booths -- 737 in all across the State -- added a lot of colour to the exercise.
The excitement among the first time voters was palpable. "I am very happy to vote. This is my right", was their "standard" comment.
In a bid to check apathy among voters, the EC had come up with an out-of-the-box idea by holding the poll in the middle of the week to prevent people planning an outing by clubbing the poll-day holiday with the weekend break.
"Date of the poll has been kept on a Wednesday. Had it been on a Monday, it would have come with a holiday of Saturday and Sunday. And had it been on a Tuesday, take a day's off and we can go out ... Wednesday is a little difficult," an EC official said.
To draw people to use their voting rights, the EC took many initiatives such as theme based and ethnic polling booths, and pink booths exclusively operated by women.
According to the EC, it has set up 996 all women managed polling booths, 239 booths managed by people with disabilities and 286 managed by youth.
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This was the first state-wide assembly election where the Vote-From-Home option was given for those elderly people who completed 80 years and were unable to reach the polling station, according to an election officer.
Boramma, a centenarian from Melagodu in Holenarasipur Taulk of Hassan district, however, chose to walk to the polling booth with a stick for support holding the hand of her son.
After casting her vote, Boramma said, "I have completed 100 years. I am happy to vote. Everyone should vote and may good happen to everyone. I have been voting for the past 60 years. I never ever missed a single election without voting".
Many elderly voters reached the polling booths on wheel-chairs like Nagalakshmi, 84, who cast her vote at Malleshwaram in Bengaluru.
There were brides and bridegrooms in the queue who voted in multiple booths.
Sahil Dhariwal, 26, preferred casting his vote ahead of his marriage in Bengaluru.
"I am voting for the first time. Last time I could not vote because of certain reasons. This time I made a point not to miss this opportunity," Dhariwal said.
At Periyapatna in Mysuru district, a couple queued up for voting soon after they tied the nuptial knot.
A theme based polling station at Kalaghatagi constituency in Dharwad district caught the attention with the entire polling staff wearing colourful attire of nomadic tribe Lambani.
Transgenders too did not fall behind and voted in large numbers, an EC official said.
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RR beat RCB by six wickets in IPL
Guwahati (PTI): Blistering fifties by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Friday.
Sent in to bat, RCB rode on a fighting half-century by skipper Rajat Patidar (63) to post 201 for 8.
Virat Kohli (32), Romario Shepherd (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (29) also chipped in with useful contributions.
In reply, Sooryavanshi (78 off 26 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls) shared a 37-ball 108-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform. Krunal Pandya (2/30) tried to bring them back with back-to-back wickets.
But Jurel, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (24), completed the task with another 68-run stand, with two overs to spare.
For RR, Jofra Archer (2/33), Ravi Bishnoi (2/32) and Brijesh Sharma (2/37) took two wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63; Jofra Archer 2/33, Ravi Bishnoi 2/32, Brijesh Sharma 2/37).
Rajasthan Royals: 202 for 4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Dhruv Jurel 80 not out; Krunal Pandya 2/30, Josh Hazlewood 2/44).
