Polling begins in second and final phase in Karnataka

Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka began on Tuesday in 14 constituencies.

Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

A total of 227 candidates -- 206 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the second phase covering the northern districts of the state where more than 2.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 28,269 polling stations.

The Congress and BJP are locking horns on the electoral battleground again in less than a fortnight in Karnataka.

It's a straight fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP in these constituencies in the northern districts. The JD(S) is not contesting these seats and is supporting its NDA alliance partner -- the BJP.

The state has 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The first phase of polling in the other 14 seats in most of the southern and coastal districts was held on April 26.

The segments where elections will be held on Tuesday are: Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere and Shimoga.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP had won all these seats, defeating Congress and JD(S), who were in alliance and ruling the state back then.

Speaking to PTI, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena said adequate security arrangements have been made for Tuesday's polling.

"Around 1.45 lakh polling officials have been deployed across the 14 constituencies. In addition, 35,000 civil police personnel, 65 companies of Central Paramilitary forces and armed police of other states will be deployed for the polling day," he said.

Besides this, 4,000 micro observers will also be on duty, and 17,000 polling stations will be covered by webcasting, he added.

Davangere has a maximum number of 30 candidates, followed by 23 in Shimoga while Raichur has the least - eight.

Former Chief Ministers Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and Jagadish Shettar (Balgaum), Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and Bhagwanth Khuba (Bidar) -- all from BJP; Congress' Geetha Shivrajkumar (Shimoga) -- wife of actor Shivrajkumar and daughter of former CM S Bangarappa, and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani (Gulbarga), are among the prominent people in the fray.

Also in the contest are MP and veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra, party's suspended leader and former Deputy CM K S Eshwarappa -- both from Shimoga, former Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri and ex- Minister B Sreeramulu of BJP from Uttara Kannada and Bellary respectively, and retired IAS officer G Kumar Naik of Congress from Raichur.

Stakes are high for several Ministers in this phase with their children contesting.

Sons of Ministers Laxmi Hebbalkar and Eshwar Khandre-- Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar and Sagar Khandre-- are contesting from Belgaum and Bidar respectively, while daughters of Ministers Satish Jarkiholi and Shivanand Patil-- Priyanka Jarkiholi and Samyukta Patil respectively-- are in contention in Chikkodi and Bagalkot respectively.

Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of Minister S S Mallikarjun and daughter-in-law of veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, is contesting from Davangere.