Karnataka records 69.23 percent voter turnout in 14 LS seats
Bengaluru: The 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka that went to polls on Friday recorded a voter turnout of 69.23 percent, according to the tentative estimates released by the Election Commission.
The high-profile Mandya seat recorded the highest turnout of 81.48 percent. Former Chief Minister and state JD-S President H.D. Kumaraswamy is contesting from Mandya as the NDA candidate against Congress’ Venkataramane Gowda, also known as Star Chandru.
Kolar (reserved) Lok Sabha seat recorded the second highest voting of 78.07 percent. JD-S leader Mallesh Babu is contesting against Congress’ K.V. Gowtham from Kolar.
Hassan, which had witnessed fierce controversies between former PM H.D. Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna and Congress’ Shreyas Patel, recorded the third highest (77.51 percent) voter turnout.
Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha seat saw voting of 77.43 percent followed by Chikkaballapur (76.82 percent) and Chamarajanagar (76.59 percent).
Bengaluru Rural, another high-profile seat, recorded a turnout of 67.29 percent. Former PM Deve Gowda’s son-in-law C.N. Manjunath and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar’s brother sitting Congress MP D.K. Suresh are in the fray from the seat.
Tumakuru recorded a 77.7 percent turnout, where senior BJP leader V. Somanna is taking on Congress’ Muddahanume Gowda.
Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary seat recorded a 76.06 percent voter turnout.
The voter turnout in the Chitradurga (reserved) seat stood at 73.11 percent while in Mysuru-Kodagu, where royal scion Yaduveer Wadiyar is in the fray, saw 70.45 percent voting.
Bengaluru North, where Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje is taking on retired IIM-B Professor and senior Congress leader M.V. Rajeev Gowda, registered a 54.42 percent turnout.
Bengaluru South, from where BJP Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya and former MLA Sowmya Reddy are in the fray, saw 53.15 percent polling. Bengaluru Central recorded a 52.81 percent turnout.
Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and the polling on the remaining 14 seats are slated for May 7.
Karnataka recorded 68.96 percent of voting in the first phase and 68.66 percent of voting in the second phase of the 2019 general elections.
Of the 14 seats where polling took place on Friday, the BJP had won 11 in the 2019 parliamentary elections while the Congress, JD-S and an independent candidate supported by the BJP had won one seat each.
