The bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies in Karnataka took place without major incidents on Thursday, except for a controversial video showing an alleged Congress worker distributing money to voters in Bagalkot. The Election Commission of India (ECI) acted swiftly, registering a First Information Report (FIR) at the Navanagar Police Station against Jaffar Beffari, who was identified in the video. Despite the controversy, voter turnout was notable, with 65.68% in Bagalkot and 63.04% in Davanagere South, although these figures are lower than the previous Assembly elections where Bagalkot had a 75.9% turnout and Davanagere South recorded 89.48%. The bypolls were necessitated by the deaths of two Congress MLAs, Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti. In Davanagere South, Shivashankarappa's grandson, Samarth Mallikarjun, is contesting against the BJP's Srinivas T Dasakariappa, while in Bagalkot, Meti's son, Umesh Meti, faces BJP's three-time MLA Veeranna Charantimath. Both parties campaigned aggressively, with historical trends suggesting that the ruling party has an advantage in bypolls.