Polls for 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday as it set the stage for the world’s largest democratic exercise.
Fourteen seats in South Karnataka, including Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru South, and coastal regions will go to the polls in the first phase. April 4 is the last date for filing nominations for the first phase. The nominations can be withdrawn until April 8.
The remaining 14 constituencies will go to the polls in the second phase on May 7. The nomination process for this phase will end on April 19 and nominations can be withdrawn until April 22.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held across seven phases from April 19 to June 1 across the country while balloting for Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Odisha assemblies will take place on April 19 and May 13. The results will be announced on June 4.
Five of Karnataka’s seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes. As many as 53.7 million voters are eligible to vote in the state across 58,834 polling stations. They include over one million in the 18-19 age bracket.
In September, Janata Dal (Secular) or JD (S)) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sealed an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls months after the Congress swept back to power in Karnataka. JD(S) contested the 2019 national polls in alliance with the Congress.
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka were held in two phases on April 18 and April 23. Mandya recorded the highest turnout of 80.24% and Bangalore South had the lowest (53.48%). The BJP swept the polls in the state in 2019, winning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress and JD(S) managed a seat each. A BJP-backed independent won the remaining seat.
