ECI announces Karnataka poll dates; check details

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections 2023.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said that the polls will be held in a single phase on May 10.

Gazette notification will be released on 13 April. The last date for filing nomination will be April 20, scrutiny of nomination will be completed on April 21 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature will be April 24, the CEC said.

Votes polled will be counted on May 13, he added.

Of the 224 seats in Karnataka legislative assembly, 36 are reserved for SCs, and 15 are reserved for STs. polling will be conducted in more than 58,000 polling booths in Karnataka, Rajiv Kumar said.

The CEC said that the ECI is committed to conducting free and fair elections. For the first time ‘Vote from Home’ facility will be available for elderly voters above the age of 80 years and differently-abled voters in Karnataka.

The current term of the Karnataka Assembly concludes on May 24, 2023. Presently, BJP has a strength of 121 MLAs whereas Congress and JDS have 70 and 30 MLAs respectively.

2018 elections

The 2018 elections for the Karnataka Assembly were held on a single day in 222 constituencies on May 12, 2018. However, due to the demise of MLA B. N. Vijaya Kumar and a voter fraud scandal, the election in Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar was postponed. The polls for these constituencies were held on May 28, 2018.