Karnataka Election: Security Up Ahead Of Counting Across 34 Centres To Decide Fate Of Congress, BJP, JDS

While BJP hopes to buck the 38-year trend of Karnataka never voting incumbent party to power since 1985, Congress will look to wrest the state despite forming a government after last election in 2018.

BSF jawans stand guard near the strong room for EVMs after the Karnataka Assembly elections, in Bengaluru.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: The results of the high-octane Karnataka Assembly elections will be declared tomorrow. Polling concluded in Karnataka to elect the 224-member Legislative Assembly on May 10 with the southern state recording a voter turnout of 72 per cent till 5 pm. The state is seeing a three-cornered contest between the incumbent BJP, an aggressive Congress, and the Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular), which would hope to play kingmaker again. The 224 seats span across six regions - Bengaluru, Central, Coastal, Hyderabad-Karnataka, Mumbai-Karnataka and Southern Karnataka or Old Mysore region. Mumbai-Karnataka and Southern Karnataka are the largest regions of the state and consist of 50 and 51 Assembly seats respectively. 

While BJP hopes to buck the 38-year trend of Karnataka never voting the incumbent party to power since 1985, Congress will look to wrest the state despite forming a government after the last election in 2018.

In the 2018 polls, Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy became the chief minister after JD(S) entered into a post-poll alliance with the Congress. However, the government lasted barely a year, with BJP weaning away MLAs, leading to the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress government in July 2019. BJP emerged as the single largest party in the House in the 2018 election, winning 104 seats.

Here’s a list of arrangements that have been made ahead of the counting:

• There are 34 Counting Centres across Karnataka with five of them in Bengaluru where the counting of the votes will commence at 8.00 am.
• The Election Commission has appointed Special counting Observers at all the counting centres.
• The counting of votes will be done under CCTV surveillance and the process will be videographed.
• The counting will be done on 4256 tables in 306 halls at the 34 counting centres.
• There will be 224 Returning Officers and 317 Assistant Returning Officers who will be responsible for the counting process.
• There will also be 4256 Counting Supervisors, Assistants and Micro Observers to oversee the counting at the centres.
• The state has arranged three layers of security around the counting centres.
• The Election Commission has made arrangements to announce the results and trend updates on results.eci.gov.in
• The Bengaluru police Friday said Section 144 will be imposed in the entire district on Saturday. Police said strict security measures will be implemented around five counting centres in Bengaluru.