More women voters in 14 Karnataka LS seats which go to polls on May 7: CEO

Bengaluru, April 24 (IANS): Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena on Wednesday announced the voters' list for the 14 Lok Sabha seats which would go for polling on May 7, in the third phase of the polls, has been finalised and has more women voters than men.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that there are a total of 2.59 crore (2,59,17,493) voters in the remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats which would go to polling in this third phase in the country, and the second and final phase in Karnataka. (Polling in the state begins in the second phase with voting in 14 seats, mostly in south Karnataka, on April 26).

The electorate for the May 7 phase in the state also includes 35,465 service voters and 418 overseas voters.

"About 6.90 lakh young men will cast their votes for the first time. There are 2.29 lakh voters above the age of 85 years and the number of voters with personal disabilities is 3.43 lakh. The biggest constituency is Kalaburagi with 20.92 lakh voters and smallest is Uttara Kannada with 16.49 lakh voters," the CEO said.

He also said female voters, 1,29,83,000, are more in number than the male voters, at 1,29,67,000.

There are a total number of 28,269 polling stations in 14 Lok Sabha seats, he added.

Most of the seats which go to polling on May 7 are located in the north Karnataka region.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi is contesting from Dharwad, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from Kalaburagi, Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba from Bidar, former CM B.S. Yediyurappa's son B.Y. Raghavendra from Shivamogga, former CM Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri and former CM Jagadish Shettar from Belagavi.