BENGALURU: The citizens of the South-Indian state of Karnataka are on their way to elect the next government as voting began early on Wednesday. The polling started at 7 AM in polling booths across the state and is scheduled to end at 6 PM.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka announced that the state had seen over 8% voting in the first two hours of voting. “General Assembly Elections-2023, State total Poll percentage upto 9.00 AM is 8.26%,” said the official handle of the Chief Election Officer of Karnataka on Twitter.
This assembly has turned out to be a massive battle between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. While Bharatiya Janata Party brought in their heavyweights from across the country to campaign in the state, Congress also left no stone unturned regarding the matter. Verbal jibes between the political leaders of different affiliations heated up the pre-election scenario in the state over the last few weeks. The campaigning ended on 8 May and it remains to see whom the public decides to bring to power in the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) and Aam Aadmi Party have turned out to be the major competitors in the Karnataka polls. Different parties tried to target voters using different strategies, but the row regarding Tipu Sultan managed to grab eyeballs not only in the state but also in the entire country.
The total number of candidates appearing for the polls includes 2430 males, 184 females and 1 from the third gender. Voting is going on across 58545 polling stations across the state. 26728053 males, 26400074 females and 4927 people from the “others” category in gender will be able to cast their votes on Wednesday.
The election is being conducted in a single phase for 224 seats and the counting will be conducted on May 13. The majority mark is 113 to form the government in the state.
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