Karnataka: 70% voter turnout recorded

Karnataka Election: 70% voter turn out recorded by the end of polling.

Voters show their voting ID as they cast their vote for Karnataka Assembly elections in Hubballi on Saturday. PTI Photo

Karnataka: The voting for electing Karnataka’s 15th Legislative Assembly began at 7am on Saturday, after a fortnight-long bitter campaign by the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).  A single-phase polling will be held in 222 constituencies, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 26 in Bengaluru till 6.00 p.m.   All that happened on Saturday: 

• 70 per cent turn out in Karnataka assembly polls. The last assembly election in 2013 had witnessed 71.4 per cent polling.

70 per cent turn out in #Karnataka assembly polls. The last assembly election in 2013 had witnessed 71.4 per cent polling.

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) May 12, 2018

• Polling for Karnataka assembly election ends
• EC says 64.5 per cent voter turnout recorded till 5 PM

This Amit Shah is like a comedy show and Narendra Modi's image has drastically declined, his speeches are completely hollow and have made no impact on the voters of Karnataka. Therefore we are not worried: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah#KarnatakaElection2018 pic.twitter.com/gmdl3lYlB6

— ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2018

• Congress and BJP workers were locked in minor scuffles at some places, accusing each other of trying to bribe the voters
•  About 56 per cent polling was recorded till 3 pm on the voting day for the fiercely fought Karnataka Assembly polls. Voting began on a moderate note and gathered momentum in the afternoon.
• 36.90% voter turnout recorded till 1 pm
• Woman stopped from entering a polling both in Belagavi as she was reluctant to remove her 'burqa' for identification, was later allowed when a woman official identified her inside a cubicle

image courtesy: ANI IN PICS: Celebrities Casting Their Vote For Karnataka Election

• Cricketer Rahul Dravid casts his vote in Karnataka

• As there is the model code of conduct in Karnataka, PM Modi planned to pray at temples in Nepal instead, just to influence voters. This is not a good trend for democracy. Why did he only choose today as the day?: Ashok Gehlot, Congress
• Yeddyurappa urges voters to cast their votes

Voting is not only a right, but ones duty as well. I have done my part today.

And I urge my dear fellow citizens of Karnataka to please exercise your democratic right & cast your vote as early as possible. Play your part in shaping the future of our State.#KarnatakaVotes4BJP pic.twitter.com/FFPYiBuu8h — B.S. Yeddyurappa (@BSYBJP) May 12, 2018

• 10.45% voter turn-out till 9:30 am in Karnataka

• We are confident. BJP will not win more than 60-70 seats maximum, forget getting 150. They are just dreaming of forming the Government: Mallikarjun Kharge, Congres

• Former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda casts his vote at polling booth no.244 in Holenarasipura town in Hassan district, says 'We expect a possibility of forming the government, we have done well.'

• A faulty Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine at booth number 108 has stalled voting in Hubli
• #Bellary: @BJP4India 's B.Sriramalu performs 'gau pooja' before casting his vote. He is contesting against CM #Siddaramaiah from #Badami constituency. pic.twitter.com/7f8b4BSHht

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) May 12, 2018

• BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar casts his vote at Karnataka Reddyjana Sangha in Bengaluru's Koramangala

• BJP Chief Ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa casts his vote in Shikarpur, Shimoga

• Union Minister & BJP leader Sadananda Gowda casts his vote in Puttur, says "Certainly there will be increase in voting this time. They want to remove the Siddaramaiah government from Karnataka. People will come out in large numbers"

  "Preparations have been made to conduct a free and fair polling in 222 of the 224 assembly constituencies across the state amid tight security," state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told reporters here on Friday. The Election Commission (EC) on Friday postponed voting in Bengaluru's Raja Rajeshwari (RR) Nagar segment to May 28 in the voter ID cards case, and earlier countermanded polling in the city's Jayanagar seat following the death of BJP contestant B.N. Vijay Kumar on May 4. The state has over 4.97 crore electorate, including 2.52 crore men and 2.45 crore women. New voters are 15,42,000 in the 18-19 age group. Voting will be held at 58,008 polling stations in 30 districts across the state, with 600 of them marked as pink booths, manned by all-women personnel, and 28 ethnic booths. "Around 3.6 lakh personnel will be on duty from dawn to dusk at all polling stations with required facilities to enable the electorate cast their vote in EVMs comprising 94,841 balloting units and 84,830 controlling units that are connected to Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs)," said Kumar. Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful voting, maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident at all the polling stations. "About 1,40,000 security personnel have been deployed for the election, with para-military forces from 585 central and state companies at 20,826 polling stations, including 12,001 critical or hyper-sensitive booths," state Director-General of Police Neelamani Raju told the media here. In the state capital (Bengaluru), about 10,500 police personnel, 4,500 armed forces and 2,5000 home guards have been deployed at 7,400 polling booths in 26 constituencies across the city. "As 1,469 polling booths among them have been identified as sensitive, we have deployed additional forces, including 150 senior officers to supervise the election process," said Bengaluru Police Commissioner T. Sunil Kumar. In all, 2,654 candidates are in the fray, including 219 women. In all, 222 candidates are from Congress, 222 from BJP, 201 from JD-S, 1,155 Independents and over 800 from other national, regional and fringe parties. About 450 contestants are in the battle from Bengaluru, which has the largest number (28) of seats in the state. Of the prominent candidates, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is contesting from Chamundeshwari at Mysuru and Badami in Vijayapura district in the state's northwest region. BJP's Lok Sabha member from Ballari (ST) seat B.R. Sriramaulu is also contesting from two seats, including Badami and Molakamuru (reserved) seat in Chitradurga district JD-S state President and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is in fray from Ramanagara and Channapatna seats in the old Mysuru region. BJP's state unit president and its chief ministerial nominee B.S. Yeddyurappa is contesting from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district in Malnad region. Siddaramaiah has also fielded his son Yatindra from his home town Varuna in Mysuru district.