Bengaluru: The crucial polling for Karnataka Assembly elections began on Saturday morning amid tight security.
Polling is being held in 222 of 224 seats. A day ahead of the polls, the Election Commission had deferred the polls for Rajarajeswari Nagar constituency after a large number of voter ID cards were found in the apartment. The polls for the constituency will now take place on May 28.
The elections to Jayanagara seat was also put on hold after the death of BJP candidate and sitting MLA B N Vijaykumar.
The election is being viewed as the litmus test for BJP and the Congress, ahead of the 2019 General Assembly elections. Currently, the Congress is in power in Karnataka.
A total of 2,600 candidates are contesting the polls, which includes 200 women.
The final voter list includes 5,06,90,538 people, in which 2,56,75,579 are male voters.
A total of 58,008 polling booths have been set up across the state.
The voting began at 7am and by 11am, Karnataka recorded 24 per cent voting. The polling stations are equipped with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs).
The voting will conclude at 6 pm.
The counting of votes will be held on May 15and results announced the same day.
