The Election Commission on Wednesday announced a single-phase Karnataka Assembly elections on May 5. The counting of votes will be held on May 8.
Announcing the schedule for polls to the 224-member Legislative Assembly, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) V S Sampath said the schedule was finalised after taking into consideration all relevant aspects, such as climatic conditions, academic calendars and festivals. The tenure of the current Assembly expires on June 3.
Setting in motion the electoral process, the CEC said, “the model code of conduct shall come into force with immediate effect.” The poll notification will be out on April 10 and the last date of filing nominations will be April 17.
The scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 18 and the last date for withdrawal is April 20. The electoral rolls of all the existing Assembly constituencies in the state have been revised, with reference to January 1, 2013 as the cut-off date and the same have been published.
As per the final published electoral rolls, there are 4.18 crore electors in the state. Of the 224 constituencies, 36 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 15 for Scheduled Tribes.
The polls would be held from 8 am to 5 pm and EVMs would be used at 50,446 polling stations.
The formats for filing affidavits regarding criminal backgrounds, assets, liabilities and education qualification of the candidates have been combined into one revised format in Form No. 26. “Adequate number of observers -- general, expenditure, police and micro observers -- will be deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the polls.