With just a day left for polling, i.e., on Friday, the outdoor campaigning for 14 Karnataka’s 28 LS seats came to an end on Wednesday. 14 of K’taka’s 28 constituencies will vote across 30,602 polling booths to choose from a pool of 247 candidates on April 26th. 99 independent candidates are in the fray. 2.9 crore electors in the first phase of voting. 32.1 lakh voters in Bengaluru North are the highest. The highest number, i.e., 55,771 young voters from the age bracket of 18-19 years are in Bangalore Rural.
In sensitive constituencies like Bangalore Rural, this time the Election Commission as compared to 2019 LS polls will deploy more than double the number of security personnel and will have 100% webcasting of all polling booths. The Bangalore Rural will witness 100% webcasting of the process. The Election Commission to enhance security at polling stations will introduce live webcasting in 64% (19,701) of the total 30,602 polling stations in 14 LS constituencies. Chief Electoral Officer Manoj K.Meena said that an additional 1370 polling stations will be under CCTV surveillance. About 1.4 lakh polling officials, 5000 Micro observers, 65 parliamentary forces personnel, and armed police from other states will be deployed.
The constituency will witness the contest amid the brother of deputy CM DK Shivkumar and sitting MP DK Suresh from Congress and Dr. C.N. Manjunath, son-in-law of JD(S) supremo and former PM HD Devegowda from BJP.
The Bangalore Rural constituency will be converted to a fortress on the polling day with high-security measures and the deployment of parliamentary forces personnel and state police in the wake of peaceful polls.
Here, the Election Commission informed on Wednesday that a total of 189 cases have been booked over major violations of the model code of conduct. Among these 23 related to hate speech, 12 against BJP or its candidates, 9 against Congress, and two against JD(S). Another 28 cases were registered for inducing voters. In this context, 9 cases were registered against Congress, 8 against BJP, and three against JD(S). The remaining 8 cases were against independent and candidates from unregistered parties.
To encourage people to cast a vote several hotels, and taxi aggregators announced discounts on their meals, freebies, and free rides. The owners of these hotels said, “We want to reward voters who will participate in the election tomorrow and contribute to the nation’s development.”
It is pertinent to mention that the 14 constituencies of K’taka that go for poll on April 26th are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore-Kodagu, Chamrajanagar, Bangalore North, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore South, Bangalore Central, Chikballapur and Kolar.