First phase Karnataka Panchayat polls peaceful

Karnataka on Sunday witnessed a largely peaceful first phase of a Panchayat poll, seen as a test of the B S Yeddyurappa government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it was riled by charges of corruption over land allotments.

The Zilla and Taluk Panchayats of 12 districts went to polls and there was no major untoward incident reported.

The districts were Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Ramanagara, Kolar, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Tumkur, Bidar, Bellary, Raichur, Chikkaballapur and Yadgir.

Some stray incidents of minor clashes between the activists of BJP, Congress and Janata Dal (S) and protests over electronic voting machine malfunctioning were reported but officials said the polling was by and large peaceful.

According to initial reports, the turnout was 50 percent.

The second phase will be held on Dec 31. Counting is on Jan 4.