Karnataka: 50% Voter Turnout Achieved in 14 Lok Sabha Constituencies

PTI, Apr 26, 2024, 4:38 PM IST

With less than three hours left for voting to end, over 50 per cent turnout was reported in Karnataka where polling is underway in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday.

According to election officials, the voter percentage till 3 PM was about 50.93 per cent. The voting that began at 7am, will end by 6 pm.

Out of 14 segments that are going to polls today, highest turnout of 58.76 percent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada, followed by Udupi-Chikmagalur at 57.49 percent. The least was 40.10 percent in Bangalore Central. The turnout was 40.77 percent in Bangalore South and 41.12 percent in Bangalore North. Bangalore Rural that is witnessing a tight contest between Congress’ D K Suresh– MP and brother of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar– and Dr C N Manjunath, a noted cardiologist and son-in-law of former PM H D Deve Gowda, on a BJP ticket, has recorded 49.62 percent polling.

In the first phase, the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance in (NDA) in September last year, in three — Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.

The segments where elections are being held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress and JD(S), which were in alliance and ruling the state back then, had secured just one seat each in these 14 segments. The BJP had won in 11 and ensured the victory of a party-supported independent candidate in Mandya.