70% voter turnout in Karnataka

Some 70 per cent voters exercised their franchise for Karnataka Assembly polls on Saturday, the Election Commission said here.

Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha said the figure was likely to go up as data was still being collated from various polling stations where people queued up beyond 6 p.m. when the voting was supposed to end.

"As of now, the total turnout figure received is 70 per cent. However, we expect this number to increase, and hope it surpasses that of the previous elections," he said.

The Election Commission said the polling percentage may breach the 71.4 per cent mark recorded in the 2013 Assembly election in Karnataka which has nearly 5.07 crore voters.

Sinha said the highest polling of 76 per cent was recorded in Chikkaballapura and Ramanagara while Bengaluru Urban had the lowest turnout at 48 per cent.

Some 2,654 candidates, including 216 women, are in the fray for 222 seats out of a total 224. Voting was deferred in two constituencies.

Counting of votes will take place on May 15.

Sinha said the "seizure of cash, liquor and other goods was to the tune of Rs 186 crore, which was six times more than the Lok Sabha and eight times more than the Assembly election in 2013".

He said there 26 cases of paid news reported across the state, out of which 15 cases have been proved as paid news.

--IANS

sar/vd