The voting for the Karnataka Assembly Elections began today for a total of 222 seats. This election will decide the ruling party in the State and further influence the 2019 General Elections.
The citizens will be voting for the MLAs to form the 15th Legislative Assembly in Karnataka. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) Congress and the Janata Dal Secular (JD-S) are contesting in various constituencies in the State. The votes will be counted and results will be declared on the 15th of May. The BJP and JD(S) have partnered for the elections giving the Congress a tough competition.
This is a single phase polling for 222 constituencies out of which 36 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST.) There are a total of 4.97 crore voters including 2.45 crore women and 2.52 crore men. Reports show a total of 15,42,000 new voters aged 18 who are likely to cast their first vote.
There are a total of 58,008 polling stations in 30 districts equipped with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs.) This Assembly Election will see the use of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPATS.) This machine prints out the symbol of the party voted for by each citizen to ensure transparency.
The polling will be held from 7:00 A.M., to 6:00 P.M., today in Karnataka. One of the Constituency’s polling was canceled after the BJP candidate suddenly passed away. This election is very important for the Congress as it is one of the four states under their control. If Congress loses this election bouncing back in the General Elections will be difficult. Apart from Karnataka, the Congress rules in Punjab, Puducherry and Mizoram.
The Election Commission announced that the 222 constituencies saw a 24% voter turnout till 11 A.M., this morning. In the 2013 elections, there was an overall turnout of 70.23% voters. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is hoping to resume his existing role in the State after the elections. Siddaramaiah is the first CM in 30 years to complete the full 5 year Chief Ministerial term. The BJP has listed B. Sreeramulu as the candidate for chief minister.
