Voting underway for bypolls to 1 Lok Sabha, 2 assembly seats in K'taka
Bengaluru: Voting is underway for by-election to Belgaum Lok Sabha and Maski and Basavakalyan assembly segments in Karnataka on Saturday, poll officials said.
A total of 22,68,038 voters (including service voters) are eligible to cast their votes at 3,197 polling stations in the three constituencies where voting began at 7 am and will go on till 7 pm.
Among voters from all the three segments, over 11.37 lakh are men and over 11.22 lakh are women.
A total of 30 candidates are in the fray from all the three constituencies. While, Belgaum has 10 candidates, Basavakalyan and Maski have 12 and eight respectively.
Twenty-six out of the total 30 candidates are men. Among the four women include two from Basavakalyan and one each from Belgaum and Maski.
Counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Bypolls are being held by following the strict COVID-19 protocols, especially social distancing, wearing masks, using hand sanitisers among others, officials said, adding the last hour is reserved for coronavirus positive patients or those with symptoms.
By-polls to Belgaum Lok Sabha and Basavakalyan Assembly seats were necessitated following the death of Union Minister Suresh Angadi and MLA B Narayan Rao respectively due to COVID-19 in September last year.
Maski seat fell vacant following the disqualification of MLA Prathapagouda Patil who had won in 2018 as the Congress candidate and is now with the BJP.
The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress are battling it out in all three constituencies, while the JD(S) has limited itself only to Basavakalyan, as the regional party has not fielded any candidates in Maski and Belgaum.
The ruling BJP has fielded Mangala Suresh Angadi, the wife of late Suresh Angadi, from the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat.
Pratapagouda Patil, who quit Congress and joined the BJP is the saffron party's candidate from the Maski assembly segment, while youth leader Sharanu Salagar has been fielded in Basavakalyan.
BJP rebel and former MLA Mallikarjun Khuba is in the fray as an independent candidate from Basavakalyan.
The Congress has fielded its state working president Satish Jarkiholi, who is currently the MLA of Yamkanmaradi assembly segment, as its candidate from Belgaum.
Mallamma, the wife of late legislator B Narayan Rao, is the grand old party's candidate from Basavakalyan seat, while Basanagouda Turvihal, who recently joined the party, has been fielded in Maski segment.
JD(S) has named Syed Yasrab Ali Quadri, who was with the Congress earlier, as its candidate from Basavakalyan.
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In a first, Bengaluru woman loses Rs 2 lakh after pressing ‘1’ on fake IVR call: Report
Bengaluru: In what appears to be the first such cybercrime reported in Bengaluru, a 57-year-old woman reportedly lost Rs 2 lakh after following instructions and pressing a key during a fake IVR (Interactive Voice Response) call from a nationalised bank.
The woman, a resident of Dattatreyanagar in Hosakerehalli, received a call that appeared to be from the State Bank of India (SBI), a bank she holds an account with. The IVR message claimed that Rs 2 lakh was being transferred from her account and instructed her to press '1' if she did not authorize the transaction, as reported by the Times of India on Thursday.
"I was shocked on hearing the voice note as I had not done any such transaction. I didn't press any number. The voice note repeated, saying that I have not responded. I was confused. After three rounds of such announcements, I pressed 1 as I had not initiated the transaction. Soon after that, there was a second announcement stating, ‘Please visit your bank and contact the manager immediately.' Subsequently, the call got disconnected," she told the national daily.
Shortly after, the call disconnected, and she discovered a Rs 2 lakh loss in her account. She immediately contacted her bank and filed a complaint with the police.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer explained that fraudsters often use IVR calls to ask for personal details like the last four digits of a debit card, bank account number, date of birth, email ID, or other information needed to access online banking. "Once the victim shares the information, the money is siphoned off. Without sharing the credentials, it is not possible to siphon off money just by pressing the options 3 or 1 or 9," he told TOI.
The officer noted that the victim may have shared some information in response to the voice message, which could have allowed the fraudsters to access her account and steal the money. If she didn't provide any details, this type of scam would be new to them, and the investigation will provide more clarity.
A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act and BNS section 318 (cheating).
