The Election Commission of India has announced the much-awaited schedule for the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023. The state of Karnataka will go to the polls on a single day to elect a new government that will take over the reins from the current Assembly by May 24. The Assembly has a total of 224 seats up for grabs. With the announcement of the election schedule, political parties have started gearing up for the upcoming polls.
The Election Commission of India has identified 58,282 polling stations in the state of Karnataka, out of which 28,866 are in urban areas. The average number of voters per polling station is 883. The ECI has also identified sensitive booths and deployed a three-pronged approach to ensure free and fair elections. The upcoming polls will see a total of 5.21 crore voters in the state, including 2.59 crore women voters and 2.62 crore male voters. As a first, the ECI has also made voting from home available in the state for people over 80 years of age and those with disabilities. There are also special booths set up for vulnerable tribal groups and transgender people.
Karnataka has a significant number of first-time voters, with 9.17 lakh voters eligible to cast their vote for the first time in the upcoming elections. There are also 16,976 voters above the age of 100 and 4,699 third-gender voters in the state. With such a diverse electorate, political parties are expected to focus on various issues, including employment, healthcare, and agriculture, among others.
The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar also spoke about the issue of voter apathy while announcing the election dates. The urban seats have recorded the maximum voter apathy, with Bengaluru recording a voter turnout of only 51-57 percent on its seats. The turnout was much lower than the 72.4 percent recorded in the last elections held in the state in 2018. Political parties are expected to work on increasing voter turnout in urban areas.
The Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 are expected to be a closely contested affair, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC), and the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) among the key players. The elections are crucial for all the parties as they seek to strengthen their position in the state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With the election schedule announced, it will be interesting to see how the political parties shape their campaign strategies and reach out to the diverse electorate of the state.
The Election Commission of India declared that the vote tallying would commence on May 13, as the current term of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly concludes on May 24. The state boasts a whopping 5.21 crore electorate, with 2.62 crore males and 2.59 crore females. The commission has placed particular emphasis on enabling the elderly to cast their votes conveniently, while also promoting the active involvement of the younger generation in the voting exercise. Encouragingly, the commission noted a considerable rise in the number of female voters and debutant voters in the state.
