During the Karnataka Assembly Elections, BJP and Congress workers were caught giving out cash to voters. The BJP workers were giving Rs. 500 while the Congress gave away Rs. 600. This happened outside the polling booth at Nalini Ragunatha Rao Degree College in South Bengaluru.
The Congress workers were first inspected the citizen’s voter IDs and then gave the bribe. The election that began at 7:00 A.M., for the 222 constituencies in Karnataka. A total of 56% voter turnout was recorded at 3:00 P.M., today.
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.
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.
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.
