Moderate voting till post noon in Bengaluru's Jayanagar
Bengaluru, June 11 : Moderate polling is underway in Bengaluru's Jayanagar constituency amid tight security, said an election official on Monday.
"Over 34 per cent voting has been registered till 1 p.m. in all the 216 polling booths in the constituency. Polling has been going on in a peaceful manner barring some EVM glitches which were rectified," Returning Officer Mamatha told IANS here.
The constituency has a total of 312,252 registered voters.
"Polling, which began at 7 a.m., started on a brisk note and progressed moderately, registering 10 per cent voting till 9 a.m. and 22 per cent till 11 a.m.," the official added.
Polling in the seat was countermanded following the death of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4.
The BJP nominated Kumar's younger brother B.N. Prahlad as its candidate.
The withdrawal of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) contestant Kalegowda from the fray on June 5 in support of the Congress nominee Sowmya Reddy has made the electoral battle a straight contest between the two national parties.
In all, 19 candidates including nine Independents are in the fray. The other woman candidate in the contest is Nayeema Khanum of Praja Raita Raajya Paksha.
The votes will be counted on Wednesday.
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Smriti Irani being considered as BJP face for Delhi poll campaign, other names also on table: Report
Delhi: The increased involvement of Smriti Irani in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activities in Delhi has stirred discussions within the party's local unit regarding her potential candidacy in the upcoming 2025 assembly elections. For the first time in a decade, the BJP is considering projecting a face for its Delhi election campaign, with Irani's name among those in contention.
The recent meeting included discussions about several potential names who could be the face of the BJP for their Delhi poll campaign, including Irani, who previously lost the Lok Sabha election in Amethi to Congress's Kishori Lal, a senior BJP leader told The Indian Express. Other names mentioned include Praveen Khandelwal, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Manoj Tiwari, and Bansuri Swaraj. “Several possibilities are on the table, including fielding Smriti ji, regarding whom the national leadership is in the process of taking the final decision. Or, the party may bet on an incumbent Lok Sabha MP popular enough to pull the party through the Delhi Assembly elections. If an MP gets elected CM, they may then be replaced by a former Union Minister,” added the BJP functionary.
An insider revealed to the publication that the saffron party is contemplating a unified campaign strategy for the Delhi elections, marking a significant shift since the party last did so in 2015. This topic was addressed among senior leaders during a meeting held at the party's DDU Marg headquarters on the same day that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Delhi Chief Minister, handing leadership to Atishi. The source revealed that the Union Ministers present in the meeting asked for suggestions on whom the party could project as the face of its Delhi election campaign based on various criteria.
In addition to selecting a campaign face, BJP leadership is reportedly also considering a larger role for its Delhi MPs, keeping adequate caste and community representation in mind.. “As far as the MPs are concerned, they are being assessed based on their popularity as well as the caste and community they belong to. The party may go in for significant organisational changes in Delhi during Navratri in October after the conclusion of the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections,” a BJP leader told IE.
