Bangalore Votes: Live Updates via Blackberry

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As Bangalore votes, H R Venkatesh blogs live on his Blackberry.

8:30 pm: A quick rejoinder to those who questioned, in the comments section, as to whether I should have disclosed who I'd voted for, or if I was flippant in my choice. Is it okay for a journalist to have political leanings? That's an old question and I believe the answer should be no. So I did not want to vote for either the Congress, the BJP or the JD(S). However, I did not want for anyone else to vote in my name - hence my decision to pick an independent candidate.

8 pm: The Chief Election Commissioner reads out the astonishing statistics in a packed conference room at the Election Commission. 60 percent of the registered voters turned up through Old Mysore, Bangalore, Tumkur and Kolar, in some cases, despite the blazing heat. The figure is very high - and seems to indicate that voters have decided to deliver a strong message, and a decisive verdict. So one down, two more to go - the scene now shifts to coastal and central Karnataka or Malnad, for Phase II.

5 pm: There's nothing more stirring than the sight of a family denied their right to vote. I feel a rush of anger on the behalf of a doctor, wife and son who cannot vote despite having an electoral ID card. They say they'd even confirmed their names on the Internet, but since they had not been issued the all-important 'slip', they cannot vote. They walk off speechless with anger. Later, as the election observer closes the polling station (a college in Indiranagar), I ask him what the voter response has been. "Poor", he says, "we had a family this morning, who found their names missing. They came back in the afternoon with the relevant papers and voted, shouldn't the others who could not do so, have come in the morning?" I nod reasonably, but I'm still seething. It is 5 pm by now, but since there is no queue, it is wrap-up time. "Shutter close", says a bystander, succinctly.

3 pm: Back in office. A disgruntled Bangalore resident calls in, asking for us to report that many voters have not found their names on the voter list. My colleague who answers the phone says, "I didn't find my name in the list either." There are widespread reports that many people whose names were previously in the voter list have been denied as well. Is it because of delimitation? Voting percentage is now 45 per cent for all 89 constituencies. So less than half of the 1.73 crore electorate has turned up. Still, with two hours to go, one hopes the final figure will climb to over 60 per cent.

1:30 pm: We pack up and leave the polling station. In the last hour, I tried interviewing a few people. Those who spoke to me said they were voting for stability and their party. There was no mention of price rise or inflation. The whole scene seems surreal. Neighbours who never exchanged a word for four years are greeting each other. A few feet away, there is a 'rainbow coalition' - a scattering of state policemen, state home guards, the Karnataka Reserve Police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and even the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). One ITBP personnel, toting an evil-looking firearm and trying to look menacing, looks absurdly young. I speak to him and his friends and they give me an impromptu lesson. The longish rifle with the protruding butt is an LMG. The squat, black thing with a metal guard that is dotted with holes is a carbine. And the smallish, comfortable-looking number is the infamous AK-47. When asked if there were any 'incidents' in the morning, one of them looks scornful. He doesn't answer.

12:30 pm: Voted! Walked into the school which is doubling up as a polling booth. The queue is not long at all, and before I know it, a man's pushing me into one of the classrooms. Have to make a small confession here - this is my first time - and am momentarily confused. But the line of people sitting inside waives me through the scrutiny of ID, the dabbing of indelible ink and the stamping of a paper slip. The Electronic Voting Machine stumps me - I'd walked in without giving a thought to who I'd vote for and now I pause. Who do I vote for? I reject the Congress, BJP and JD(S) candidates on the grounds that a journalist should never vote for a major political party. The rest is simple. I choose an Independent candidate who has a bat for a logo, on the grounds that I can't do much wrong with him. Perhaps he will do something for the Royal Challengers if voted :) People have voted for worse reasons, haven't they?

11 am: The Election Commission's statistics have come in for 9 am. Bangalore Urban has seen 8 per cent turnout, areas under the BBMP region have accounted for 10 per cent and Bangalore Rural has seen 15 per cent. Rural Karnataka has seen 20 per cent turnout. The signs are encouraging in rural areas, but pretty disappointing in urban Bangalore. Let's hope things pick up!

9 am: The sun is already bright, all traces of clouds have disappeared. Will it be the harsh sun that will keep voters away? Bangalore, and indeed Karnataka, desperately need voters to turn up in full strength, which will hopefully result in a definitive verdict!

8 am: Voting began at 7 am. The weather is nice and cool. The skies are slightly cloudy, looks like rain sometime this afternoon. Will that drive the voters away? Not too many people milling about at the polling booth. Most of them look like retired folks. On second thoughts, that's not surprising - the younger ones are obviously sleeping!