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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that by-elections to the Davangere South and Bagalkot Assembly constituencies in Karnataka will be held on April 9, with the counting of votes scheduled for May 4.
The bypolls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress leaders Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who represented Davangere South, and HY Meti, the MLA from Bagalkot. With the announcement of the schedule, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into immediate effect in the two constituencies.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced the dates on Sunday, March 15, while releasing the schedule for bye-elections to eight constituencies across Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tripura.
According to the schedule, the election process will begin with the issue of the notification on March 16. The last date for filing nominations is March 23, while scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on March 24. Candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations until March 26, after which the final list of contestants will be published. Polling will take place on April 9, and the counting of votes will be held on May 4.
In the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, former minister and Congress candidate HY Meti won the Bagalkot seat by defeating BJP’s Veeranna Charantimath by a margin of 5,878 votes. In Davangere South, Congress veteran Shamanur Shivashankarappa defeated BJP’s BG Ajay Kumar by 27,888 votes.
Electoral data shows that female voters outnumber male voters in both constituencies. The Bagalkot Assembly constituency has a total of 2,58,118 voters, including 1,26,233 male voters, 1,31,863 female voters, and 22 transgender persons.
Similarly, the Davangere South constituency has 2,32,564 voters, comprising 1,18,355 female voters, 1,14,165 male voters, and 44 transgender persons.
The bye-poll results for the two Karnataka seats will be declared on May 4, the same day as the results for the Assembly elections and other bye-elections announced by the Election Commission.