Bangalore, May 5
Over 65 per cent of nearly 4.36 crore electorate cast their votes in the largely peaceful Assembly elections in Karnataka today. Election Commission officials said the polling figure was estimated to be around 65 per cent by the close, but the exact figure would be available only when the compilation from all the segments had been received.

“The polling, which was held from 7am to 6pm, remained peaceful. We have no reports of poll disruptions,” Joint Chief Electoral Officer T Shamaiah told a news agency. The polling was 60.68 per cent till 5 pm, he added. Election in the Periyapatna constituency of Mysore district was countermanded following the death of ruling BJP candidate Sannamoge Gowda on April 29. Polling there has now been re-scheduled for May 28. The Karnataka Assembly has 225 seats, including a reserved seat for a nominated member from the Ango-Indian community.

The counting of the votes will take place on May 8.

Residents of a few villages in north Karnataka stayed abstained from voting in protest against the lack of basic facilities in their area. At Kolar, some miscreants were seen moving around a polling booth holding long knives used for animal sacrifice in Hindu festivals. They were later arrested by the police.

In Bangalore, where the polling percentage has historically remained low, voting remained slow with only around 45 per cent of the city’s seven million voters exercising their franchise till five.

The total number of candidates in the fray are 2,948, including 170 women candidates. Prominent candidates included Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee G Parameshwara, former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and JDS state unit president HD Kumaraswamy.

Major political parties such as the ruling BJP, the Congress, the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the newly formed Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), a party of the BJP rebels led by its first Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, are contesting in all 223 constituencies across the state.

Authorities had made elaborate security arrangements with around 1.35 lakh police personnel on duty at around 52,000 polling booths where about 65,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) had been installed.