Karnataka polls: 64 percent voter turnout recorded till 5 pm

Bengaluru: Total 64 per cent of voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm in Karnataka Assembly polls. The voting across the state began on Saturday amid tight security and heightened vigil to elect 15th legislative assembly.

"A single-phase polling began at 700 hours in 222 of the 224 assembly constituencies, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST)," said an official.

Denizens of Bengaluru were seen lined up outside polling booths from 1830 hours to beat the rush in casting their ballots as voting began at 700 hours.

Polling in Bengaluru's Raja Rajeshwari Nagar segment has been postponed to May 28 in the voter ID cards case and countermanded in the city's Jayanagar seat following the death of BJP contestant BN Vijayakumar on May 4.

In all, voting is being conducted across 26 of the 28 constituencies in the city.

Also Read: Polling put off in RR Nagar seat over voter cards case

During the initial hour of voting, there were reports of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) malfunctioning in some booths; power crisis in a polling station in Rajajinagar seat; voters names missing at few booths and women clad in burqa made to reveal their faces at a Belagavi polling booth -- that led to a few hiccups.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Chief Ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa was among the first to cast his vote in Shikaripura segment in Shivamogga district of Malnad region.

The state has over 5.06-crore electorate, including 2.56-crore men, 2.5-crore women and over 5,000 who identify themselves as the third gender.

A total of 15.42 lakh voters, aged 18-19, have registered to cast their ballot for the first time.

Voting is being held in 58,008 polling stations of 30 districts across the state, with 600 of them as pink booths, manned by all-women personnel, and 28 ethnic booths.

Over 1.5 lakh personnel have been stationed across the state for the election, with paramilitary forces from 585 state and central companies at 20,826 polling booths, including 12,001 critical booths.

Voting will continue till 1800 hours and votes will be counted on May 15.

It may be recalled that in the previous assembly polls in the state, Congress had emerged as the single largest party with 122 seats followed by BJP and JD(S) (both winning 40 seats each) and others (22).

In terms of vote percentage, Congress had managed 36.59 per cent electoral support followed by JD(S) (20.19 per cent), BJP (19.89 per cent) and others (23.33 per cent).