More than 70 percent voting recorded in Karnataka

CM Jagdish in polling.

Bangalore, May 5: Between 65 and 70 percent voting is expected to have been recorded for Karnataka assembly elections when polling ended at 6 pm and voting took place for 223 assembly seats.

Election Commission had said that till 5 pm 61 percent polling was recorded.

Over four crore 36 lakh voters were eligible to vote.

The 60 plus percent of them have sealed the fate of nearly 2,500 candidates.

Elaborate arrangements were made for peaceful and smooth conduct of the Single phase polls with deployment of as many as 1 lakh thirty five thousand police personnel.

Polling began at 7 AM today. Counting of votes will take place on Wednesday.

In Periyapatna constituency, the election was postponed due to the death of BJP candidate, polling will be held on 28th May.

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and 106-year-old seer of the Tumkur-based famed Siddaganga Mutt, Shivakumar Swamy, were among the early voters.

Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Ministers M Mallikarjuna Kharge and M Veerappa Moily, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwara, BJP State unit President Prahlad Joshi, and Karnataka Janatha Paksha supremo B S Yeddyurappa were among those who voted in the initial hours.

At a couple of places, including in Mahadevapura segment in the city, polling was delayed by a few minutes following malfunctioning of electronic voting machines

"I am very happy with the arrangements made by the Election Commission, the way in which they have enlightened the people about the need for voting and I am hoping for a better voting in the election, improved voter percentage", Naidu, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, told reporters.

Authorities have made elaborate security arrangements for peaceful and smooth conduct of polls.

Polling is being held in 223 segments, with the one in Periyapatna in Mysore district having been postponed to May 28 following the death of BJP candidate.

Over 2.5-lakh people are on poll duty.

Police personnel deployed on the ground are more than 1.35-lakh, with authorities keep a special vigil in hypersensitive booths with the help of cameras.

There are a total of 2940 candidates in the fray.

Election Commission and several NGOs had conducted vigorous campaigns in recent weeks to encourage people to vote.

In the 2008 elections, voter turn-out in the State was 64.91 per cent.

The highest voting percentage in Karnataka history was in 1978, when it recorded 71.9.