Karnataka Polls 2023
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Voters seen outside a polling booth in Karnataka on May 10. Photo: Twitter/@ceo_karnataka

Karnataka registers highest voter turnout since 1957


Karnataka recorded a voter turnout of 73.19 per cent in the Assembly elections, which is the highest ever since the state’s first-ever poll in 1952.

“Karnataka has created a new record for itself. Final voter turnout for Karnataka Election 2023 stands at 73.19 per cent,” said the Chief Electoral Office, Karnataka, said on Thursday evening (May 11).

Several pollsters have predicted that the Congress may have an edge in Karnataka, which is BJP’s southern citadel, in a hung Assembly with a couple of them even projecting that the grand old party may get a majority on its own.

Also read: Karnataka exit polls: Congress, BJP jittery; JD(S) eyes kingmaker role

While Chikkaballapura district recorded the highest voter turnout of 85.56 per cent, followed by Bengaluru Rural at 85.08 per cent; the lowest was in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) South limits (parts of Bengaluru city) at 52.33 per cent, the official data showed.

“Largely peaceful voting in all 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, and no repoll indicated in any of the 58,545 polling stations,” the Election Commission (EC) said on Wednesday night.

This year’s voter percentage eclipsed the previous record of 72.44 per cent, which was witnessed in 2018. In 2013, it was 71.83.

Also read: ‘Venomous snake’, ‘Vishkanya’, ‘Nalayak Beta’: Civility takes steep dive during Karnataka poll campaign

Counting of votes for the 224-member Assembly for which elections were held on Wednesday, will be taken up on May 13.

“Largely peaceful voting in all 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, and no repoll indicated in any of the 58,545 polling stations,” the Election Commission(EC) said on Wednesday.

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023

Karnataka recorded 72.44 per cent voter turnout in the 2018 Assembly polls which had thrown up a hung Assembly with the BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats, falling slightly short of getting a majority.

Also read: ‘Your dreams are my dreams’: PM Modi tells Karnataka day before polls

While the BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, is looking to break a 38-year-old poll jinx where the state has never voted the incumbent party to power, the Congress is hoping for a morale booster victory to give it a much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

It also remains to be seen whether former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) will emerge as a “kingmaker” or a “king” by holding the key to government formation, in the event of a hung verdict, as it has done in the past. The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), which is in power in Punjab and Delhi, has also fielded candidates.

To draw people to exercise their voting rights, the EC had taken many initiatives such as theme-based and ethnic polling booths, and pink booths exclusively operated by women.

Theme-based and ethnic polling booths — 737 in all across the State — added a lot of colour to the exercise.

The battle-ready BJP with its well-oiled election machine ran its campaign with a blitzkrieg by Prime Minister Modi.

The Congress manifesto proposing to ban the Bajrang Dal heated up the later half of the campaign as the BJP and Prime Minister Modi aggressively latched on to the issue to portray the grand old party as being against Lord Hanuman and the sentiments of Hindus.

Barbs like ‘venomous snake’, ‘Vishakanya’ and ‘Nalayak beta’ vitiated the poll campaign as some leaders used intemperate and abusive language.

While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, likened Modi to a ‘venomous snake’ and his son and Congress candidate Priyank Kharge called the prime minister a “nalayak beta”, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal described former Congress president and MP Sonia Gandhi as a ‘Vishakanya’ (venomous woman).

(With agency inputs)

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