About 73 per cent of an estimated 4.93 lakh electorate cast their votes in the bye-elections to three Assembly constituencies in Karnataka,which passed off trouble-free,electoral authorities said today. According to preliminary data received by the Chief Electoral Office here,Jagalur (ST) constituency witnessed polling of about 73 per cent,Bangarpet (SC) 69 per cent and Chennapatna about 80 per cent,officials said. The poll prospects of 33 candidates remained sealed in electronic voting machines and the outcome will be known on May 13,the day of counting. Electoral officials said no untoward incident has been reported during the bye-polls. Bye-elections were necessitated following M C Ashwath (of JD-S) in Chennapatna,M Narayanaswamy and S V Ramachandra (both of Congress) in Bangarpet and Jagalur constituencies respectively,resigning their Assembly membership and joining the ruling BJP. While Ashwath has not contested the bye-polls,Narayanaswamy and Ramachandra are seeking re-election on BJP ticket. BJP,Congress and JD-S engaged in hectic campaigning to woo the electorate. The BJP sought votes for development while Congress and JD-S campaigned with an appeal to the electorate to teach a lesson to "defectors" and the saffron party which forced the bye-polls by "engineering defections".
