- The Election Commission announced that the assembly elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10. The votes will be counted on May 13.
- The first-time voters have increased from 2018-19 by 9.17 lakhs in Karnataka. “All young voters who are turning 18 years of age by April 1, will be able to vote.”
- The ruling BJP, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, is seeking to retain power in the state, while facing tough challenges.
- In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 104 seats in the 224-member Assembly, emerging as the single largest party.
- The Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party had already released their first list of candidates.
- The tenure of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on May 24, 2023.
The Election Commission announced that the assembly elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10. The votes will be counted on May 13. The election will be held for all 224 assembly constituencies.
The Election Commission of India said that first-time voters have increased from 2018-19 by 9.17 lakhs in Karnataka. “All young voters who are turning 18 years of age by April 1, will be able to vote in Karnataka Assembly elections,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said. All the airports, landing strips to be checked to curb distribution of cash, liquor and freebies, said the EC.
The announcement comes amid a high-stakes political battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S). The BJP, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, is seeking to retain power in the state, fending off allegations of corruption and communal polarisation. The election will also test the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party’s policies at the national and state level.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 104 seats in the 224-member Assembly, emerging as the single largest party, while Congress and JD(S)’ tally stood at 80 and 37 respectively. However, BJP’s tally increased in the later days giving it a majority in the Assembly, as several Congress and JD(S) MLAs defected to join the saffron party.
The ruling BJP is aiming to return to power under the leadership of CM Basavaraj Bommai while the Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in the southern state. It has been successful in its attempt to corner the government on the 40% commission row.
The Congress party announced its first list of 124 candidates on March 25. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from Varuna and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar will contest from Kanakapura constituency. Siddaramaiah said this would be his last election and after this, he will stay away from electoral politics.
Earlier on March 20, the Aam Aadmi Party on March 20 also released its first list comprising 80 candidates. The party has said it will field candidates in all the 224 Assembly constituencies in the state.
The Congress on Saturday announced its first list of 124 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka with former chief minister Siddaramaiah being fielded from his Varuna seat. Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar will contest the elections from his Kanakapura assembly constituency, according to the list.
The tenure of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on May 24, 2023. The previous assembly elections in the state were held in May 2018.
