Karnataka Assembly Election 2018: Polling Begins Across The State, Result On May 15

BENGALURU:  Voting for the high-stakes Karnataka assembly election began at 7 am this morning under high security across the state. In what is expected to be a close contest, voting is being held in 222 out of the 224 constituencies in a three-cornered contest among the ruling Congress, the BJP and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda's party JD(S) or Janata Dal (Secular).

Yesterday, the Election Commission deferred voting for the Rajarajeswari Nagar constituency to May 28 after a row erupted over a large number of fake voter ID cards being found in an apartment.

Election for the Jayanagar seat in Bengaluru was countermanded following the death of BJP candidate and sitting MLA BN Vijayakumar.

Over 2,600 candidates -- more than 2,400 men and and over 200 women -- are contesting the election in the state.

The total number of voters, including service electors according to the 2018 final rolls, are 5,06,90,538, of whom 2,56,75,579 are male voters, 2,50,09,904 are female and 5,055 are transgender voters.

58,008 polling stations have been set up across the state, of which 12,002 have been designated as "critical", with over 3,50,000 polling personnel on duty.

Police have made elaborate security arrangements for the smooth conduct of polls that will go on till 6 pm. Counting of votes will take place on May 15. "82,157 people have been deployed for poll duty that include DSPs, home guards and civil defence, and forest guards and watchers, Karnataka DGP Neelamani N Raju said.

This also includes about 7,500 personnel from states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Kerala and Goa, she said, adding, central forces have been deployed.

The current polls are seen as one of the most complex the state had ever witnessed with many imponderables that have left most analysts to bet on a fractured mandate in a cliffhanger.

One among the interesting aspects of this election is that four candidates who have served as chief ministers of Karnataka are in fray -- current incumbent Siddaramaiah (Chamundeshwari and Badami), BS Yeddyurappa (Shikaripura), HD Kumaraswamy (Chennapatna and Ramanagara) and Jagadish Shettar (Hubli-Dharwad Central)

State electoral authorities have also taken certain new initiatives such as SMS-based polling station access, app-based polling station access and navigation and queue status facility for a few polling stations with higher voter population.

Some special polling stations with ethnic look in primitive tribal areas have been established on a pilot basis. For the first time in Karnataka, one all women-managed polling station (Sakhi) has been set up in all rural assembly constituencies and five in each urban constituency (totaling 600 polling stations).

Source:https://www.ndtv.com/karnataka-news/karnataka-assembly-election-2018-polling-begins-across-the-state-result-on-may-15-1851057