Karnataka Elections 2023: The Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced the poll schedule for 224-member Karnataka Assembly which will see its term ending on May 24, 2023. In a press conference held in the national capital, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced that Karnataka will undergo polls in a single phase. 


The gazette notification will be issued on April 13 and last date for filing nominations will be April 20. The date for scrutiny of nominations has been set for April 21 and last date for withdrawal of candidature will be April 24. 


Polling will take place on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13 and the entire poll process will be concluded by May 15.  


Other highlights of the press conference are as follows:



  • Focus on new voters, women, people with disabilities (PwD), and third-gender voters. 

  • For the first time, home voting facility will be available for 12.15 lakh senior citizens above 80 years of age and 5.55 lakh benchmarked PwD voters.

  • Over 9.17 lakh first-time voters will participate in the elections.

  • There will be a total of 52,282 polling stations of which 50 percent will have a webcasting facility.  

  • There will be 240 model polling stations across the states and 1320 polling stations will be managed by women while 100 polling stations will be operated by PwDs.

  • 224 polling stations will be set up and managed by the youngest available polling staff in a bid to encourage young voters.

  • Assured minimum facilities at every polling station - ramp/wheelchair, toilets, electricity, and drinking water.

  • Election Commission of India launched a Hackathon - Electhon 2023, to address issues such as urban and youth apathy. Over 746 teams have registered so far to provide solutions to enhance the participation of urban and youth voters.

  • cVigil App for grievance redressal with a response within 100 minutes and PwD App for new registration, migration, correction in EPIC details, and request for a wheelchair. ‘KYC portal’ for voters to know about the candidates contesting the election and ‘Suvidha portal’ for candidates to file nominations and affidavits and seek permission for rallies and meetings. 


Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023


The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party, looking for a second term in the state, has currently 119 MLAs in the Assembly while Congress has 75, and ally Janata Dal (Secular) has 28 legislators.


As the poll dates draw close, all three political parties began the spate of allegations and counter-allegations with the Congress and JD(S) trying to corner the government on the issue of corruption. 


Meanwhile, the BJP, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, aims to return to power in the state and has been stressing the Kannadiga issue and the recent decision to grant reservation to Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities by scrapping a religion-based reservation for the Muslim community.