Karnataka Assembly polls: Siddalinga Swami of Siddaganga mutt casts vote in Tumakuru

Siddalinga Swami of the influential Lingayat Siddaganga mutt voted in the Karnataka Assembly elections on Wednesday at a polling booth in Tumakuru.

The Lingayat and Vokkaliga voters will be crucial in the elections. Lingayats make up 17% of the population, while Vokkaligas make up 11%. On Wednesday, polling for the Karnataka Assembly elections began at 7 a.m. amid tight security and will continue until 6 p.m.

The state’s three major political parties, the BJP, the Congress, and the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS), have all made efforts to woo voters, making promises and levelling accusations at each other in order to secure a majority in the 224-seat Assembly.

Karnataka is holding elections for 224 assembly constituencies, with 2,615 candidates running. The candidates’ fates will be revealed on May 13, the day of the vote count. Polling is scheduled at 58,545 polling places, including auxiliary polling places.

According to the Election Commission of India, 113 seats are required to form a government.
42,48,028 new voters have registered to vote in the assembly elections.

A total of 5.3 crore general voters will vote in 58,545 polling stations spread across 37,777 locations. There are 11,71,558 young voters and 12,15,920 senior citizens aged 80 and up.