Elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly will be held on May 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 8. The poll notification will be issued on April 10.
Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath told journalists that the model code of conduct had come into effect immediately and would apply to all candidates, political parties and State/Central governments.
The last date for filing nomination is April 17 and on the next day the papers will be scrutinised. The last date for withdrawal is April 20.
The poll will be held between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. As many as 4.18 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. The Commission is setting up 50,446 polling stations.
3 CMs in 5 years
The ruling BJP government, headed by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, will have its term till June 3 and this is the first BJP government in south India. But the party had three Chief Ministers in the last five years — B.S. Yeddyurappa and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, besides Mr. Shettar — due to continuous infightings in the organisation’s State unit.
Mr. Yeddyurappa, who was removed after the State Lokayukta filed criminal cases in various scams, revolted against the party and formed his own Karnataka Janata Paksha, a regional political party, on December 9 last year.
The Commission might be requesting for security forces even from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra, apart from deployment of Central security forces, to ensure that everything goes well during the campaign and the actual polling period.
