Polling begins in Karnataka's 14 Lok Sabha seats

Polling began on Tuesday in the remaining 14 Lok Sabha constituencies across western and northern Karnataka amid tight security, said an election official.

"Voting began at 7 a.m. in 28,022 polling stations across the regions, including 216 all-women ('sakhi') and 39 ethnic booths for gender and tribal empowerment," the official told IANS here.

An estimated 2.43 crore citizens -- 1.23 crore men, 1.20 crore women -- and some 10 lakh first time voters in the 18-19 age group, are on the electoral rolls to exercise their ballot.

"Polling will be held till 6 p.m. in all the 14 parliamentary seats across the erstwhile Bombay province and the Hyderabad-Karnataka region," added the official.

The constituencies are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur (SC), Gulbarga (SC), Raichur (ST), Bidar, Koppal, Bellary (ST), Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere and Shimoga.

The state's chief electoral office has identified 5,605 polling stations as critical with additional police deployment to ensure peaceful polling and avoid any untoward incident.

In all 237 candidates, including 10 women, are in the fray and 164 are Independents.

--IANS

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