Bangalore, May 10 (). Voting for the elections to the 16th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka began on Wednesday morning amidst tight security arrangements.
Voting for the 224 assembly seats in the state began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. The voter turnout is expected to be good because of the tough contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress, the main political parties.
The ruling BJP is hoping to create history by securing a simple majority for the first time in the state, considered the gateway to South India. It had won 110 seats in the 2008 assembly elections and 104 seats in the 2018 assembly elections. On both the occasions it was successful in forming the government through Operation Lotus.
Riding on the anti-incumbency wave, the opposition Congress wants to return to power. For the last 38 years, no party has come to power in the state for two consecutive terms. The Janata Party government led by the late Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde was re-elected in 1985. The Congress has claimed that all its internal surveys have indicated that it will come to power in the state.
JD(S) wants to play a bigger role in government formation by becoming the king maker. In the event of a fractured mandate, the party has formed coalition governments by joining hands with the BJP and the Congress.
Only three chief ministers belonging to the Congress have completed their full tenure of five years so far. Former chief ministers Nijalingappa, D. Devaraja Urs and Siddaramaiah achieved this feat.
In the previous term (2018-2023), three chief ministers – JD(S)’s H.D. Kumaraswamy and BJP’s B.S. Yeddyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai have taken over the chair.
There are 58,545 polling stations in the state. The total electorate is 5.30 crore of which 2.66 crore are male and 2.63 crore are female voters. There are 4,927 third gender voters in the state.
There are 16,914 voters in the state who are above 100 years of age. Voters between 30 to 40 years (1.41 crore) and 40 to 60 years (1.89 crore) are the major voting groups. There, there are 11.71 lakh voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) are hoping to make their presence felt in Karnataka for the first time.
akj
Follow Niharika Times for all the big news from India and abroad. Like us on Facebook and Twitter . Always visit Niharika Times for latest news.
