49.80% voting reported till 3 PM in Karnataka

An estimated 49.80 per cent voter turnout was reported till 3 PM in 14 constituencies of Karnataka, where polls are underway in the second phase on Tuesday, poll officials said.

The highest turnout was recorded at Shimoga with 54.88 per cent and the lowest in Gulbarga with 42.01 per cent till 3 PM, the officials said.

In Shimoga, former Chief Minister and state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is pitted against another former Chief Minister S Bangarappa's son Madhu of the JD(S).

Raghavendra had defeated Madhu during the bypolls held in November last year and is seeking re-election.

Madhu isthe joint candidate of the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance.

In Gulbarga, the fight is between the Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and BJP's Umesh Jadhav.

Jadhav, against whom the Congress had moved the assembly speaker, seeking disqualification, had quit as Congress MLA ahead of the polls and joined the BJP.

This election is said to be a tough one for Kharge, a nine-time MLA and two-term Lok Sabha member, who has never tasted electoral defeat.

Voting began at 7 am in 28,022 polling stations that are mostly in the northern belt of the state, covering the entire Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka regions, acouple of central districts and coastal Uttara Kannada.

As many as 2,43,03,279 voters are eligible to choose from among 237 candidates in the fray in the second phase.

Of the 14 constituencies in the second phase, BJP is contesting all seats, while the Congress and JD(S),who have an alliance, have fielded their candidates in 12 and two constituencies respectively as per the seat sharing arrangement.

Congress currently has its hold on only four out of 14 seats - Chikkodi, Gulbarga, Bellary, Raichur- while the BJP has its sitting MPs in 10 seats.

The 14 constituencies in the southern part of the state covering old Mysuru region and a couple of coastal districts had gone to the polls on April 18, recording an overall voter turnout of 68.81 per cent.