Karnataka to vote in LS polls on April 26 and May 7

Bengaluru: Polling for Karnataka's 28 Lok Sabha seats will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday.

A total of 14 Parliamentary constituencies, primarily located in south Karnataka, will go for polling on April 26, and the remaining 14 constituencies, in north Karnataka, on May 7.

The first phase of polling will cover Bengaluru South, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Rural, Mysuru, Mandya, Dakshina Kannada, Chamarajanagar, Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru, Hassan, and Kolar constituencies. The notification for the first phase will be issued on March 28, the last date for filing nominations is April 4, the scrutiny will be held on April 5, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 8.

The seats which fall in the second phase are Raichur, Kalaburagi, Uttara Kannada, Bidar, Belagavi, Chikkodi, Bagalkot, Haveri, Koppal, Davanagere, Shivamogga, Dharwad, Bellary, and Bijapur. The notification will be issued on April 12, the last date for filing nominations is April 19, the scrutiny will take place on April 20, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 22.

In Karnataka, the electorate stands at 5.41 crore voters, of which 11.2 lakh are first-time voters. There are 2.71 crore are male voters while 2.70 crore female voters.

About 3.5 lakh officials will be deployed at various levels across 58,834 polling stations in the state for the smooth conduct of elections. Besides, over 30,000 CCTV cameras will be installed across the state, according to Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Meena.

He also stated that he is hopeful that the state's voter turnout in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will rise to 72 per cent or beyond -- higher than the 2019 elections's 68 per cent.