Karnataka registers 72.13 % turnout, better than last election in 2013

Over 2.13 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Saturday in the high-stakes Karnataka assembly elections amid projections that main contenders BJP and Congress are in a neck-and-neck race. The counting will be taken up on May 15.

In Bengaluru Urban though, the turnout was a dismal 50 per cent, much lower than 57.6 per cent in 2013.

In 2013, Karnataka registered a 71.3 per cent voter turnout, highest for the previous 35 years and a good increase compared to 64.8 per cent turnout in the 2008 assembly polls.

The fate of nearly 2,644 candidates in 222 of 224 assembly constituencies was sealed in Saturday's polls that passed off peacefully amid tight security.

However, election in two constituencies, Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwarinagar, both in Bengaluru, have been deferred due to death of a candidate and electoral malpractices respectively.Voting was held in 222 of the 224 Assembly seats in Karnataka, in a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Congress, the BJP and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's JD(S).

Over 2,600 candidates are in the fray -- more than 2400 men and and over 200 women.

Of the 5,06,90,538 eligible voters, 2,56,75,579 are men, 2,50,09,904 women and 5,055 transgenders.

(with PTI inputs)