Bengaluru, May 28: Moderate polling has been recorded in the Raja Rajeshwari (R.R.) Nagar Assembly constituency here amid tight security, an official said on Monday.

"Over 35 per cent voting has been registered in all 471 polling stations across the constituency till 2 p.m. Polling has been peaceful barring glitches in a few EVMs which were soon rectified," Returning Officer S. Shailaja told IANS here.

The constituency has 4.7 lakh voters.

"Polling, which began at 7 a.m., started on a brisk note and moderated post-noon as the day progressed with 11 per cent voting till 9 a.m. and 24 per cent by 11 a.m. Polling will end at 6 p.m.," said Shailaja.

The election in the Assembly segment was postponed from May 12 due to electoral malpractices including detection of 9,564 voter ID cards at a residential apartment in the area.

"Polling in the constituency was deferred to maintain the sanctity of the election process as keeping the voter cards in a flat was illegal," joint Chief Electoral Officer K.N. Ramesh told IANS.

In all, 14 candidates, including outgoing Congress legislator Munirathna and four Independents are in the fray. The votes will be counted on May 31.

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Ramangara (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday hinted at cracks and squabbling within the BJP and the JD(S), as he gave credit to the leaders of these parties for the defeat of JD(S) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the Channapatna assembly bypoll.

Congress candidate C P Yogeeshwara won in Channapatna bypoll with a margin of 25,413 votes against his nearest rival and NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, as results were announced on Saturday.

The Congress party swept all the three assembly constituencies in Karnataka, namely Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon, which went for bypolls.

Nikhil Kumaraswamy is the son of Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy and grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. In September last year, JD(S) joined the NDA led by BJP.

“Many people from across the parties have helped us in this election (Channapatna). Congress had only 16,000 votes in the previous assembly election. It increased in the Lok Sabha election,” Shivakumar told reporters here.

According to him, many people from the JD(S) and the BJP supported the Congress. “If the BJP and the JD(S) leaders had not supported us directly or indirectly, we wouldn’t have got so many votes. I congratulate them,” Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, said.

He quipped that the JD(S), which had 19 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, has now reduced to 18.

Hailing the electorate, the Deputy CM said this was people’s verdict in favour of C P Yogeeshwara to develop Channapatna constituency.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP or the JD(S) on it.