Karnataka poll dates announced

New Delhi, Apr 02 : The Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced the dates of polls in Karnataka.

CEC chief N Gopalaswami said the elections would be conducted in three phases next month.

The first phase of polling will take place on May 10 in 89 constituencies. The second phase of polling would take place on May 16 in 66 constituencies and the final phase of polling will take place on May 22 in 69 constituencies.

Counting of votes will take place on May 25.

With the announcement of the dates, the Model Code of Conduct comes into immediate effect.

The issue of notification for the first phase of polls will be April 16 and the last date of filing of nominations will be April 23. Scrutiny will be done the next day and last date of withdrawal will be April 26.

For the second phase, nominations will begin on April 22 and the last date for the purpose will be April 29 followed by scrutiny the next day. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is May two.

Nominations in the final phase will begin on April 26 and the last date for nominations will be May three. Scrutiny will take place on May five and the last date for withdrawal is May seven.

Earlier on Saturday, the Chief Electoral Officer of the state had published the delimited electoral rolls of all the 224 Assembly constituencies, setting the stage for today's announcement.

Karnataka came under President's rule in November last year after the collapse of the BJP-JDS coalition Government.

ANI