Karnataka's final round of LS polls begin, 2.59 crore voters to seal fate of 227 candidates

Bengaluru, May 7 (IANS): The second and final phase of polling for Karnataka's remaining 14 Lok Sabha constituencies began on Tuesday May 7. People queued up early outside the 28,269 polling stations of 14 Parliamentary constituencies to exercise their franchise in Karnataka.

Elaborate arrangements are in place for the polling, the Election Commission said.

A total of 1,40,705 polling officers, 4,027 micro observers, 45,695 police personnel, 65 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), and 2,360 sector officers will be deployed on the voting day, it said.

There are 28,269 polling booths, out of which 17,643 will be covered by webcasting.

There are 2,59,17,493 voters in the 14 Parliamentary seats - 1,29,83,406 male voters and 1,29,67,709 females. There are 339 overseas electors, while voters aged 18-19 years total 6.90 lakh and those above the age of 85 years are 2.29 lakh.

The number of electors with physical disabilities is 3.43 lac.

Kalaburagi constituency has the highest number of voters, at 20.98 lakh, while Uttara Kannada has the least, at 16.41 lakh.

There are 227 candidates, including 21 women, in Tuesday's contest, with the highest number of candidates (30) contesting for the Davanagere Lok Sabha seat and the least (8) in the Bijapur constituency.

While the BJP and the Congress are contesting all 14 seats, 117 independent candidates are also in the contest.

Prominent candidates include Union Minister Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), former CMs Jagadish Shettar (Belagavi) and Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri), and former CM B.S. Yediyurappa’s son B.Y. Raghavendra (Shivamogga) (all BJP), and Congress President Mallikarjkun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani (Kalaburagi).