Karnataka will elect its representatives to the 18th Lok Sabha in two phases on April 26 and May 7, the Election Commission of India announced on Saturday, March 16. Each phase will see 14 seats going to the polls.
On April 26, elections will be held in the following constituencies: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Bangalore North, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur, and Kolar. The last date for filing nominations for these seats is April 4 and for withdrawal of candidature the last date is April 8.
In the second phase on May 7, polls will be held for the remaining seats: Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere, and Shimoga.
The last date for filing nomination for the second phase is April 19 and for withdrawal of papers is April 22. Results will be announced on June 4 all over India.
Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats, among which five are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, and two for the Scheduled Tribes. In the previous general election too, voting was done in two phases.
As per the final electoral rolls published by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer in January, the state has a total of 5.37 crore voters. Of these, 5.33 crore voters are general electors of which 2.69 are male, 2.68 are female, and 4,920 are other electors. Young electors (18-19 years) number over 10 lakh. The total number of polling stations according to the final rolls is 58,834.
The months leading up to the announcement of the poll dates has seen several interesting developments in Karnataka’s political scenario, with the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD (S)) aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in September last year. The JD (S) and BJP announced their alliance in September last year but negotiations on seat sharing are still on. Interestingly, during the previous Lok Sabha elections, the JD(S) had aligned with the Congress.
In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept most of the seats. Of the total 28 seats, the NDA secured 26, with BJP alone winning 25. The Congress and JD(S) each managed to secure one seat each, as did one independent.