Bangalore, April 28 (IANS) Campaigning for the 11 Karnataka Lok Sabha seats going to polls April 30 ended Tuesday on an ugly note with a slipper thrown at Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa at a public meeting.
Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) president and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda contesting from Hassan, former chief minister S. Bangarappa in Shimoga and state BJP chief D.V. Sadananda Gowda in Udupi-Chikmagalur are among the 156 candidates in the field for the second and last phase of polling in the state that elects 28 MPs.
Voting took place in 17 constituencies April 23.
Yeddyurappa became the latest target of the 'footwear missile' when a slipper was hurled at him while he was addressing an election meeting in Channarayapatna in Hassan district, around 150 km from here. Police said it was the handiwork of a vagabond who appeared drunk.
More than 15.5 million people, including 7.67 million women, are eligible to vote Thursday in 18,426 polling booths in the 11 constituencies spread over north, south and coastal Karnataka.
The other constituencies attracting attention are Mandya in south Karnataka and Dakshina Kannada on the west coast.
In Mandya, Kannada film star and minister of state for information and broadcasting M.H. Ambareesh of the Congress is facing a tough battle to retain the seat against N. Cheluvarayaswamy (JD-S), a former minister, and L. Shivarame Gowda, a former Congressman contesting on the BJP ticket.
Former central minister B. Janardhana Poojary is seeking to get Dakshina Kannada back to the Congress fold from BJP which has fielded a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer Nalin Kumar Katilu.
The ruling BJP has pitted former Congressman K.H. Hanume Gowda against Deve Gowda in Hassan while Sadananda Gowda is battling K. Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress and Radha Sundaresh of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in Udupi-Chikmagalur.
Bangarappa's opponent in Shimoga is Yeddyurappa's son B.Y. Raghavendra.
The other constituencies voting Thursday are Haveri, Bagalkot, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Davanagere and Dharwad.
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