NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAR 29
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced the poll schedule for 224-member Karnataka Assembly, which will see its term ending on May 24, 2023. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced that Karnataka will undergo polls in a single phase at a press conference in New Delhi.
The notification will be issued on April 13 and last date for filing nominations will be April 20. The date for scrutiny of nominations has been set for April 21 and last date for withdrawal of candidature will be April 24.
Schedule for GE to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka.#AssemblyElections2023 #ECI #KarnatakaElections2023 pic.twitter.com/93lG2y9QZt
— Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) March 29, 2023
Polling will take place on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13 and the entire poll process will be concluded by May 15.
Other highlights of the announcements are:
- Focus on new voters, women, people with disabilities (PwD), and third-gender voters.
- For the first time, home voting facility will be available for 12.15 lakh senior citizens above 80 years of age and 5.55 lakh benchmarked PwD voters.
- Over 9.17 lakh first-time voters will participate in the elections.
- There will be a total of 52,282 polling stations of which 50 percent will have a webcasting facility.
- There will be 240 model polling stations across the states and 1320 polling stations will be managed by women while 100 polling stations will be operated by PwDs.
- 224 polling stations will be set up and managed by the youngest available polling staff in a bid to encourage young voters.
- Assured minimum facilities at every polling station – ramp/wheelchair, toilets, electricity, and drinking water.
- Election Commission of India launched a Hackathon – Electhon 2023, to address issues such as urban and youth apathy. Over 746 teams have registered so far to provide solutions to enhance the participation of urban and youth voters.
- cVigil App for grievance redressal with a response within 100 minutes and PwD App for new registration, migration, correction in EPIC details, and request for a wheelchair. ‘KYC portal’ for voters to know about the candidates contesting the election and ‘Suvidha portal’ for candidates to file nominations and affidavits and seek permission for rallies and meetings.
The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party, looking for a second term in the state, has currently 119 MLAs in the Assembly while Congress has 75, and ally Janata Dal (Secular) has 28 legislators.
As the poll dates draw close, all three political parties began the spate of allegations and counter-allegations with the Congress and JD(S) trying to corner the government on the issue of corruption.
BJP aims to retain power
Meanwhile, the BJP, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, aims to return to power in the state and has been stressing the Kannadiga issue and the recent decision to grant reservation to Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities by scrapping a religion-based reservation for the Muslim community.
Karnataka is the only state in the south where the BJP has been in power, and in the 2018 election, it emerged as the single-largest party, winning 104 seats in the 224-member assembly. The Congress, on the other hand, won 80 seats, while the Janata Dal’s (Secular) tally stood at 37. After the election, however, the Congress and JD(S) formed a coalition government, with the latter’s HD Kumaraswamy taking oath as the chief minister.
In July 2019, a rebellion by some Congress-JD(S) legislators led to the collapse of the coalition government, and the BJP’s return to power under BS Yediyurappa, the saffron party’s tallest leader in the state. In July 2021, Yediyurappa stepped aside to make way for Basavaraj Bommai, the incumbent chief minister.
