68.81% voting recorded in 1st phase of LS polls in Karnataka,

A 68.81 per cent voter turnout was reported in the elections for 14 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in the first phase on Thursday, poll officials said.

Voter turnout was 68.68 per cent in the same 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2014 polls, officials said, revising the figures.

Mandya, where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil is pitted against multi-lingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh in what is perceived to be a cliff-hanger contest, recorded the highest voter turnout of about 80.24 per cent.

The lowest voting was reported in Bangalore South constituency with 53.48 per cent, officials said.

In other constituencies of the city, that has a history of low voter turnout, Bangalore North recorded 54.62 per cent, Bangalore central 54.29 per cent and Bangalore Rural 64. 90 per cent.

In Tumkur, where former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is locked in a tough contest with G S Basavaraj of BJP, 77.17 per cent turnout was reported.

Hassan where Gowda's other grandson Prajwal Revanna is contesting against A Manju of BJP, recorded 77.08 per cent voting, officials said.

Dakshina Kannada recorded 77.90 per cent polling, Udupi-Chikmagalur 75.91 per cent, Chitradurga 70.73 per cent,Chamarajnagar 75.15 per cent, Chikkaballapur 76.78 per cent and Kolar 77.14 per cent.

A total of 2,67,51,893 voters were eligible toexercise their franchise in the first phase, with 241 candidates in the fray.

The remaining 14 constituencies, mostly in northern districts, will go to the polls in the second phase on April 23.