Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Key details from the announcement | Azad Times

The 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10 and the results will be declared on May 13. The term of the present Assembly will end on May 24. The dates were announced by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel in Delhi on Wednesday, March 29.

Over 58,000 polling stations will be set up across the state to cater to 5.21 crore voters for elections in 224 constituencies. “We have placed special emphasis on registration of new voters, women, transgender persons, people with disabilities and people belonging to vulnerable tribal groups,” said Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar. He further said that 100% enrollment was done for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) of Jenu Kuruba and Koraga. The Commission will have 40 polling stations for these PVTGs.

Out of 42,756 transgender persons in Karnataka, the EC has said that they have been able to enrol 41,312. Furthermore, the ‘Vote From Home’ facility has been made available in Karnataka for the first time for more than 12 lakh people aged more than 80 years and 5.55 lakh persons with disabilities.

Read: Voters above 80 years in Karnataka can cast their vote from home: Here’s how

“More than 9.17 lakh first-time voters will participate in the election in Karnataka. Also, under Advance Application Facility, more than 1.25 lakh applications were received from 17 years+ youths, out of which around 41,000 applications were received from those turning 18 years by April 1, 2023,” he said.

Speaking on the challenges faced in Karnataka during elections, he said that they are different compared to the northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland which recently saw elections. “Urban apathy and misuse of money power are the two major issues in the state and appropriate initiatives are being taken in this regard,” Rajiv said.

Four constituencies in Bengaluru had the lowest voter turnout in the 2013 and 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections which was even lesser than the state average of 71% and 72% respectively. The Election Commission has planned measures to engage professionals in the IT corridor and the knowledge industry, via an event called ‘Electhon’.

To address the abuse of money power, the EC has planned on strengthening vigilance and has deployed 2,400 static surveillance teams. The Commission has also seized more than Rs 80 crore of freebies even before the Model Code of Conduct began. With this announcement, the MCC has immediately come into effect.

The schedule for the elections will begin with the gazette notification being issued on April 13; the last date for filing nominations is April 20, while the scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 21. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 24.