The counting of votes will be recorded on November 6.
Around 66 per cent of the 54.5 lakh electorate voted on Saturday in the five by-elections across Karnataka, a poll official said.
"Polling picked up post-noon and was moderate to heavy towards the end, with 66 per cent average voting in three Lok Sabha and two assembly segments in the state," an Election Commission official told IANS in Bengaluru.
Polling was held from 7.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. in Bellary (ST), Mandya and Shimoga parliamentary constituencies and Jamkhandi and Ramanagara assembly segments in the southern state.
The by-elections are being seen as a litmus test for the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition as its outcome is expected to have a bearing on the state's political scenario.
The Congress and the JD(S), who came together in a post-poll alliance after the assembly elections in May threw up a hung House, have decided to face the polls unitedly against the BJP, which they perceive as their common rival.
"Voting was by and large peaceful barring stray incidents of EVM (electronic voting machine) malfunctioning and names of voters missing in a few polling stations in all the segments," the official said.
According to provisional data at the end of polling, 77.17 per cent voting was recorded in Jamkhandi, followed by 71.88 per cent in Ramanagara, 63.85 per cent in Bellary (reserved), 61.05 per cent in Shimoga and 53.93 per cent in Mandya.
Earlier, BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa has said that his party will get absolute majority in all the five constituencies in Karnataka that are going to bypolls today.
“101% my son (BS Raghavendra) is going to win Shimoga seat. We are also going to win Bellary and Jamkhandi. We will get absolute majority in all the constituencies,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after offering prayers with his son at Hucharaya Swamy Temple in Shimoga, according to ANI.
The two leaders cast their votes at a booth in Shikaripura early in the morning.
Raghavendra also exuded confidence of winning the Shimoga seat. “This is a contest between our organisation and their money power. They have used all governmental power, but our workers are making all out efforts. Confident of winning in all 2,000 booths in Shivamogga constituency.”
BJP candidate for the Jamkhandi assembly constituency bypoll, Srikant Kulkarni cast his vote at booth no. 150 in Hirepadasalgi village of Jamkhandi. His rival from Congress, Anand Nyamagouda also exercised his franchise at booth no. 125.
Madhu Bangarappa, JDS candidate from parliamentary constituency of Shimoga, cast his vote at a polling booth in Kubtur. BJP MLA B Sriramulu cast his vote at polling station no. 52 in Bellary city.
Voting was delayed in booth 179 in Mottedoddi of Ramanagara after a snake was spotted inside the polling booth. Polling resumed after the snake was removed.
The bye-elections to the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Bellary, Mandya and Shivamogga were necessitated after B Sreeramulu of the BJP, CS Puttaraju of the JD(S) and BS Yeddyurappa took oath as MLAs after the May assembly polls.
The Jamakhandi assembly constituency fell vacant after the sitting legislator Siddu Nyamgoud died in a car accident in May, days after he was elected to the assembly. The Ramangara constituency fell vacant after chief minister HD Kumaraswamy took oath as the legislator of Channapatna, the second seat he contested.
The three principal parties have turned to the family members of leaders to contest the seats they vacated. In Shivamogga, the BJP has fielded BY Raghavendra, son of former chief minister Yeddyurappa. He is up against Madhu Bangarappa of the JD(S), son of the former chief minister S Bangarappa.
The BJP’s candidate in Ballari, which is reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Tribes communities, is J Shantha, who is the sister of Sreeramulu. She will face VS Ugrappa, who is a member of Legislative Council.
In Jamakhandi, the Congress has fielded Siddu Nyamgoud’s son Anand, who will face an uphill task against Shrikant Kulkarni of the BJP, who lost out by less than 3,000 votes in May.
Meanwhile, in Ramanagara, Anitha Kumaraaswamy, the chief minsiter’s wife, is the JD(S) candidate. It is in this seat that the BJP faced its biggest embarrassment after its candidate L Chandrashekar, a Congress rebel, withdrew from the race on Thursday.
However, as the withdrawal came after the allotted time, his name will still appear on the electronic voting machine, the EC confirmed. On Friday, the BJP had also petitioned the commission to postpone the election to the seat, but voting is set to go ahead as scheduled.
The campaigning for the elections have seen leaders resort to personal jibes against each other, most notably with mining baron G Janardhan Reddy claiming that former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s son passed away in 2015 as divine punishment for the latter separating Reddy from his children by jailing him.
Meanwhile, protests marred voting at Haraginadoni village in Ballari as women staged a demonstration holding empty pots and boycotted the Lok Sabha by-elections Saturday, PTI reported. The villagers were protesting the lack of water supply in their village. The district administration had arranged water supply through tankers but that was not sufficient to meet the day-to-day requirements, they said. "Most borewells in our village have gone dry. Those which are functional have high fluoride content, which is not potable," an agitating villager told reporters.
The counting of votes will be recorded on November 6.
