K'taka Polls: Yediyurappa visits temple before casting vote in Shivamogga

KARNATAKA: Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Bharatiya Janata Party leader BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday cast his vote in the Karnataka Assembly polls at Adalitha Soudha in Shivamogga and urged people to exercise their franchise.

"I request all people to cast their votes as early as possible. I am 100 per cent sure they will vote in favour of the BJP. More than 75-80 per cent will support BJP. We will win 130-135 seats," the former chief minister said after casting his vote.

"We will get absolute majority and will form the government, there is no doubt about it. People's responses are very good in the state and on that basis, I am telling you we are going to get a majority," he added.

Before heading to the polling station to cast his vote, Yediyurappa visited the ancestral temple at Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Shikaripura, along with his family.

Karnataka Minister CN Ashwath Narayan also cast his vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru and urged people to cast their vote.

"I request all people to come and cast their votes," he said.

The polling for the Karnataka Assembly elections began at 7 am amid tight security and will continue till 6 pm.

The 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.

According to the Election Commission of India, the majority mark to form the government is 113 seats.

A total of 42,48,028 new voters have been registered to vote for the assembly elections.

As many as 5.3 crore general voters are going to cast their vote in 58,545 polling stations in 37,777 locations. Out of which 11,71,558 are young voters and 12,15,920 are 80+ senior citizen voters. There are also 5,71,281 PwD voters. Around 4,00,000 polling personnel are engaged in poll processes.

84,119 State Police Officers and 58,500 CAPF police in 650 CoYs are on Law and Order and security duty today across the state.

All Police officers are on rounds to ensure Law and Order efficiently and handle MCC violations. 185 Interstate Border Check-posts are on high alert by the Police and other personnel. 100 Excise interstate border check-posts are also on high alert.

The Commercial Tax officers are deployed in 185 Check Posts (SSTs) and 75 Excise Check-posts.

The high-voltage campaign for the assembly elections in Karnataka ended on Monday with all party leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding 19 public meetings and six roadshows while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi camped in the state for 12 days.

Some of the key constituencies which will make a major mark in the polls are Varuna, Kanakapura, Shiggaon, Hubli-Darwad, Channapatna, Shikaripura, Chittapur, Ramanagara, and Chikmagalur.

The counting of votes will take place on May 13.