K'taka polls: Differently-abled man, bride join others in voting

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 12 (ANI): A bride-to-be turned heads at a polling booth when she arrived all decked in traditional attire to exercise her electoral franchise.
She, accompanied by her family members, cast her vote at booth number 131 in Madikeri right before her wedding.
Overcoming the hurdles, a differently-abled man on Saturday arrived at a polling booth in Badami to cast his vote.
He was brought by his family members in a wheelchair and was helped inside by the officials to cast his vote.
His brother told ANI, "He is physically disabled since birth. He cannot talk, cannot walk or cannot do anything. He has come here to exercise his franchise since the law has given him and everyone voting rights."
So far, voting continued its brisk pace as 56 percent of voter turnout has been recorded till 3 p.m.
The polls, which began at 7 a.m at 58,546 polling stations, each equipped with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs), will conclude at 6 pm.
A total of 2,654 candidates are in the fray and 4.96-crore electorate, including 2.44 crore women, will cast their votes. Over 15 lakh people are first-time voters in the 18-19 age group.
Tight security is in place to ensure smooth and peaceful single-phase polling in 222 constituencies, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 26 in Bengaluru.
The election in two constituencies, Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, has been postponed.
In Jayanagar, the polling has been deferred due to the death of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, B N Vijay Kumar, while in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, it has been postponed due to fake voter-ID row.
Counting and the results of the election will be announced on Tuesday. (ANI)