Bangalore, May 5 (ANI): Over 68 percent of the people eligible to exercise their franchise, voted in Sunday’s single-phase assembly elections in Karnataka on Sunday, the state’s chief electoral officer said. Declaring that the voting process was by and large peaceful, the CEO said this evening that initially there was a lukewarm response, but polling picked up after 3 p.m. He admitted that there were reports of a few minor untoward incidents, but added that polling went off peacefully. Important candidates in the fray were Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Deputy Chief Ministers R Ashoka and K S Eshwarappa from the BJP, former Deputy Chief Minister S. Siddaramaiah, KPCC State President G Parameshwar, former union minister of State for Information and Broadcasting M H Ambareesh from Congress, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, former state minister H D Revanna from JD(S) and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa of the Karnataka Janatha Party. Sunday’s voter turnout indicated four percent improvement over the last state assembly elections held in 2008, when the voter turnout was pegged at 64 percent. The CEO said that around 18 lakh new names were added to the voters list this time, while around 69 percent of the total population was covered during this election. The voter turn out was especially good in North Karnataka, he added. The voter turnout was also satisfactory in the Naxal-hit areas of the state along the Western Ghats. The total candidates in fray for the 223 state assembly seats was 2940, out of which 2770 were male and 170 were female candidates. The counting of votes will take place on May 8. (ANI)
