Karnataka goes to polls on May 10; result on May 13

The Election Commission of India will hold the Assembly elections in Karnataka in a single-phase on May 10 while the counting of votes will take place on May 13. The current term of the Karnataka Assembly expires on May 24.

Addressing a press conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that a total of 5,21,73,579 people are eligible to vote in the Karnataka elections. This includes 2.62 crore male and 2.59 crore female voters.

The CEC said that it is for the first time that people above the age of 80 and persons with disabilities (PWD) can vote from the confines of their homes. Of the 5.21 crore electors, the number of voters who are above 80 years of age stands at 12.15 lakh while 5.55 lakh are PWD voters, he added.

Over 9.17 lakh first-time voters will take part in the elections this year. Under the Advance Application Facility, over 1.25 lakh applications have been received from 17+ years voters, of which 41,000 applications were received from the youth turning 18 years by April 1, 2023, Kumar said.

The CEC also explained that for inclusive and participative elections, 100 per cent enrolment of eligible Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in Karnataka, 40 ethnic polling stations will be set up. There will be special emphasis on the participation of the third gender in the elections, he added.

Kumar said that 58,282 polling stations will be set up in the 224 Assembly constituencies. The average voter per polling station is 883. Half of the polling stations have a webcasting facility. For enhanced voter experience, 1,320 polling stations will be managed by women, he added.

He also said that assured minimum facilities will be available at all polling stations. The Election Commission is conscious of providing all basic facilities to voters for an enriching and pleasant voting experience. There is an emphasis on making this a permanent infrastructure at all polling stations, CEC Kumar further added.

Kumar however frowned upon voter apathy in many parts of Karnataka. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, amongst the top 20 low voters per cent, 9 were urban. The trend was also noticed in the recently held Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

To address such issues as urban and youth apathy, the Election Commission has launched a Hackathon-Electhon 2023. Over 746 teams have registered so far to provide solutions to enhance the participation of urban and youth voters, the CEC said.

To ensure free, fair and inducement-free elections, the awareness and cooperation of citizens are key, he said. Citizens can report any kind of electoral malpractice to the ECI through the ECI's CVigil App. The response time would be 100 minutes, the ECI said.

The CEC said that advance planning and strict monitoring ensured peaceful and violence-free elections in the recently held polls in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and the three Northeastern States. There was no repeal in over 66,000 polling stations, the CEC said.