Karnataka assembly election schedule announced polling in single phase on May 10 and results on May 13

New Delhi: The Election Commission is holding a press conference regarding the announcement of the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections. Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar is addressing the PC. Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar told that a gazette notification will be issued on April 13 for the Karnataka assembly elections. The last date for nomination will be April 20. Nominations will be scrutinized from April 21 to 23 and candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations till April 24. Polling in Karnataka will be held in a single phase on May 10 and the results will be declared on May 13. The current term of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly ends on May 24, 2023. Before that, the new government has to be formed after holding the elections.

Out of total of 224 assembly seats in Karnataka, 36 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 15 for Scheduled Tribes, 173 seats are under the general category. Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that all young voters who have turned 18 by April 1 will be able to vote in the Karnataka Assembly elections. He described the use of money power as a major challenge in Karnataka elections and said that work is being done to curb it by coordinating with various agencies. Check posts, special highways, and warehouses have been identified and mapped to track the trend of growth in incoming goods.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that conducting fair elections is the priority of the Election Commission. There are 224 assembly seats in Karnataka. The good decision of the Commission is that it has started the facility of voting from home for people above 80 years of age and Divyang. There will be more than 58,000 polling stations in the state for the Karnataka assembly elections. Of these, there will be 28,866 urban polling stations. The Election Commission said that over 1,300 polling stations would be exclusively manned by women. 224 such booths have been made, in which youth workers will be deployed. Divyang employees will be deployed at 100 booths. The Election Commission has said that this time 9.17 lakh new voters have been added in Karnataka, who will vote for the first time.

For your information, let us tell you that the schedule for the Karnataka assembly elections in 2018 was announced on March 27. At present, the Congress has 68 MLAs in the 224-member state assembly and the BJP is in power. However, in the 2018 assembly elections, Congress won 80 seats and JDS 37 seats. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats. But the Congress and the JDS formed a post-poll alliance and formed a government, with HD Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. However, this government fell after just 1 year and 2 months. Then the BJP formed the government under the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa. However, Yeddyurappa stepped down from the post of Chief Minister after 2 years and Basavaraj Bommai became his successor.

Congress has released its first list of 124 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. The party has fielded Leader of Opposition in the House Siddaramaiah from the Varuna assembly seat. However, Siddaramaiah is also hoping for a ticket from another assembly, which is likely to be announced in the second list. Also, Congress has retained most of the old faces in this list. Priyank Kharge, son of DK Shivakumar and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, has also got the ticket for the assembly elections. JDS has also released its first list of 94 candidates. The BJP has not yet announced its candidate for a single seat.

Schedule for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka