Karnataka Elections 2023 Voting Live News Updates: Voting for all 224 Legislative Assembly constituencies in Karnataka commenced at 7 am on Wednesday, 10 May.
The election is being conducted in a single phase, with the counting of votes scheduled to be held on Saturday, 13 May. While the Congress and BJP are inevitably headed for a showdown, other political parties in the fray are Janata Dal (Secular), Janata Dal (United), Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and National People's Party.
Over 918 candidates are contesting the polls as Independents. Police forces were deployed across the state ahead of Wednesday, with enhanced security in the state's border areas.
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai offers prayers before casting his vote.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
The Karnataka Assembly is the seventh-largest legislative body in terms of strength.
There are 36 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 15 for Schedules Tribes (ST).
The winning party needs at least 113 seats to form a majority government in the state.
Karnataka's total number of voters is 5,21,73,579, out of which 2.62 crores are males and 2.59 crores are females.
9,58,806 voters will be eligible to cast their ballot for the first time.
The number of polling stations across the state is 58,282.
All polling stations closed at 6 pm on Wednesday.
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65.69% Voter Turnout at 5PM
Around 65.69 percent of the electorate turned up to cast their votes till 5 pm in the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023, according to data by the Election Commission of India.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar Casts His Vote
Minister of State for Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar was seen waiting in a queue to cast his vote for the Karnataka Assembly elections, at a polling station in Bengaluru.
52.18% Voter Turnout at 3PM
Over 52.18 percent of the electorate turned up to cast their votes till 3pm in the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023, according to data by the Election Commission of India.
Shivajinagar Voters Find Their Names Deleted From Voter List
In Bengaluru Urban's Shivajinagar constituency, The Quint spoke to several people who came to vote but found their names deleted from the voter list.
The Quint had earlier reported that despite the final electoral roll for the constituency being published on 15 January, an exercise to determine whether over 9,000 people from the area will be allowed to vote or not had been undertaken.