Karnataka Assembly polls: Former PM HD Devegowda lauds "all-around development" in native village after casting his vote

Hassan (Karnataka) [India], May 10 (ANI): JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister HD Devegowda on Wednesday cast his vote at his native village, Haradanahalli in Hassan district, during the polling for the Karnataka Assembly.

Lauding the development work done in his native village, the former PM credited it to the local JDS MLA from Hassan, HD Revanna.

"Despite being a small village, it has been accorded due attention and has seen all-round development. Credit for all the work done here should go to HD Revanna, who represents this constituency (in the Assembly)," HD Devegowda told ANI on Wednesday.

Earlier, on April 27, Deve Gowda said he was confident that his party would win the Karnataka Assembly polls, saying "just wait and watch".

The Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch said, "I won't comment on individual assessments about our prospects in the Assembly polls. They are open to articulating their assessments. Let them hold on to their opinions till the mandate of the people is declared. Just wait and watch how things pan out in Karnataka."

Dewegowda's grandson, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is marking his foray into electoral politics this year, filed his nomination from the Ramanagara Assembly segment.

Polling for 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka began at 7 am on Wednesday.

The ongoing Assembly polls would decide the electoral fates of 2,615 candidates across parties.

In what turned out to be a high-decibel campaign phase, the incumbent BJP, Congress and the JDS went at each other and pulled out all stops and their heavyweights to woo voters.

After the controversy around its manifesto, which included a promise to ban the Bajrang Dal, Congress tried to redirect its campaign focus back to the bread-and-butter issues and the alleged corruption on the watch of the incumbent BJP government.

However, the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, went big on the pledge to ban the Bajrang Dal and alleged faux pas by the party's designated translator at a campaign rally addressed by Sonia Gandhi.

In this year's Karnataka polls, the Congress (supported by the CPI), and JDS are contesting on their own, aiming to form their government with a full majority.

In the previous state polls, the Congress and JDS had contested as partners.

The counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI)