The poll bugle blows for the Karnataka state

With a total of 5.21 crore voters including 2.62 crores male, and 2.59 crore female voters in Karnataka, the Election Commission of India finally announced the date for State polls, which will be on May 10th. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that voting will occur in a single phase on May 10th. The counting of votes will be held on May 13th, 2023. The last date for making nominations will be on April 20th and the final date for withdrawal of candidature is April 24th.Amid various allegations, viz., Rahul Gandhi’s target to the ruling party and the Prime Minister on issues like the Adani

Modi alliance and the BJP's attack on Rahul Gandhi for his anti-India remarks on the foreign land, among others, while addressing the media Basavaraj Bommai, the Chief Minister of Karnataka stated that the opposition’s vote bank politics has been shattered and the ruling party BJP will come back again with a good number of votes in the state of Karnataka. BJP is an ever-ready party and is fully geared up for the upcoming polls, he added. Being the only state in South India, BJP has remained the ruling party in Karnataka. The Lingayats, i.e., 17% of the population spread in northern Karnataka, have strongly supported BJP since the 1990. In South Karnataka, the Vokkaligas, i.e., 15% of the population supports the JD(S). The 33% of the population, i.e., the backward castes,15% sections of Dalits, and the 12% minorities are considered to be Congress vote banks but there are several divisions in them. To get a majority in the polls Congress requires the support of one of the influential castes, i.e., Vokkaligas or Lingayats, in addition to its support by backward castes, Dalits, and minorities. In 224 constituencies, polls will be held. The previous assembly elections were held in May 2018 and the tenure of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly will end on May 24, 2023. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar informed that for the first time in Karnataka, persons with disabilities and people over 80 years of age can vote from their homes. There are 9,17,241 first-time voters and over 41000 transgenders who have been enrolled as voters in the State of Karnataka. The average number of voters per polling station is 883 and there will be more than 58k polling stations and among them, about 28k will be urban polling stations. About 1320 polling stations will be managed by women. There will be facilities like fresh drinking water, toilets, and ramps will be provided across all the polling booths.