Record 73.19 % voter turnout in Karnataka Assembly elections: EC

Bengaluru: Election officials shared the final numbers on Thursday and described the voter participation in Karnataka as a record-high at 73.19 per cent for the Assembly elections.

Representatives for the 224-member House were elected through voting on Wednesday.

“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.

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.

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 tallying 104 seats, falling short of getting a majority. The turnout in 2013 polls was 71.83 per cent.

The counting of votes will take place on May 13.

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.

While the BJP, riding on the Narendra Modi juggernaut, is looking to break a 38-year-old poll jinx where the state has never voted the incumbent party to power since 1985, the Congress is hoping for a morale booster victory to give it much-needed 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 fractured mandate, as it has done in the past.

With PTI inputs