Sonia to campaign in Karnataka on May 13

Bangalore, May 13 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi will campaign for the second phase of assembly elections in Karnataka today. During her visit, Sonia will address public meetings at Koppal and Mangalore. She had earlier campaigned in Kolar and Bangalore city on May 7.

Of the 224 assembly segments in the state, 66 will go to polls in the second phase on May 16 and the remaining 69 in the third phase on May 22. On May 11, an average of 66 per cent polling was registered in the first phase of elections in the segments spread over 11 districts. In the first phase of Karnataka Assembly polls, 66 per cent of 1.73 crore electorate exercised their franchise in 89 of the total 224 constituencies in the dominant Vokkaliga belt, home turf of JD-S leader H D Deve Gowda and Congress strongman S M Krishna. This is higher than the 65.07 per cent average polled in the 224 assembly segments in 2004 polls.

ANI