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Karnataka recorded a voter turnout of 37.25% till 1 pm across the state in the Assembly elections taking place on Wednesday, May 10. The highest voter turnout so far was recorded in Udupi district with 47.79% followed by Kodagu with 45.64% and Dakshina Kannada with 44.17%. Bengaluru Urban recorded a turnout of 31.54%. The lowest voter turnout was recorded in BBMP Central with 29.41%, while BBMP North and Chamarajanagar registered a 29.90% and 30.63% turnout respectively.
After voting began at 7 am in the morning, a voter turnout of 8.26% was recorded at 9 am. Several actors from the Kannada film industry turned up to vote and posed with their inked fingers, requesting people to vote in large numbers. “We have to vote against communal politics. This is the place where you have the right to decide. In elections and politics, it is the ruling party who is accountable and you know when and what to do and what you have suffered. We need Karnataka to be beautiful,” actor Prakash Raj said after he cast his vote at a polling booth at St Joseph’s School in Bengaluru’s Shanti Nagar.
The Karnataka Assembly has 224 seats, and a party or coalition needs to cross the halfway mark of 112 to form the government.
Leaders of both the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have expressed confidence that their party would win with a majority and that a coalition would not happen. Senior Congress leader and Opposition leader Siddaramiah said that he was certain that the Congress will get 130 plus seats and that it could go up to 150 seats. All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge also expressed confidence that the party would get at least 130 seats.
In the last Assembly polls held in 2018, the total voter turnout in the state stood at 72.13%.
