K'taka polls: 'Look at us. We are oldies but...," Sudha Murty after casting her vote

NEW DELHI: Author-philanthropist Sudha Murty on Wednesday cast her vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru's Jayanagar in the Karnataka Assembly election that commenced at 7 am this morning. Accompanied by her husband and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, she encouraged voters to come and vote.

Speaking to ANI Sudha Murty said, "I always tell them (youth) to come and vote and then you have the power to talk, without voting you do not have any power to talk."

"Please look at us. We are oldies but we get up at 6 o'clock, come here and vote. Please learn from us. Voting is a sacred part of democracy," the Padma Bhushan awardee said while talking to reporters.

Her husband Narayan Murthy after casting his vote said, "It is the responsibility of the elders to sit down with youngsters and advise them why voting is important. That's what my parents did." Urging people to exercise their franchise, Narayana Murthy said the people do not have the right to "criticise" the governance if they do not cast their votes.

"First, we vote and then we can say this is good, this is not good but if we don't do that then we don't have the right to criticise," he said while talking to the reporters. Murthy said he had returned this morning from abroad and had turned up to vote. Co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani also cast his vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru's Koramangala today.

Polling for Karnataka Assembly elections began at 7 am amid tight security today. Three major political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS)-- have put in efforts to woo voters, making promises and levelling accusations at each other to secure a majority in the state's 224-seat Assembly.

These assembly elections, which are a critical test for the ruling BJP that's hoping to beat precedent and return to power as well as for the Congress looking for electoral revival. Voting is being held for 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka with 2,615 candidates in the fray.

The fate of the candidates will be known on May 13, the day of the counting of votes. Polling is scheduled across 58,545 polling stations including auxiliary polling stations.