Editor's Pick: Karnataka records 72.68% turnout in Assembly polls

The Karnataka Assembly election held on Wednesday saw a voter turnout of 72.68% as per provisional data at 11 p.m, surpassing the 72.36% recorded in 2018. Bengaluru’s turnout in the 28 constituencies remained at an estimated 54.51%, despite a campaign blitz by several national leaders of all parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and special drives by the Election Commission to enthuse urban voters. In stark contrast to Bengaluru, its neighbouring districts with large rural pockets recorded a heavy turnout. Chikkaballapura recorded a turnout of 85.83%, followed by Ramanagara at 84.98%, Bengaluru Rural at 83.76% and Tumakuru at 83.49%. After Bengaluru, Kalaburagi at 65.22%, Yadgiri at 66.66% and Raichur at 69.79% recorded a relatively lower turnout. Karnataka had reported a poll percentage of 71.45% in 2013 and 72.1% in 2018. The turnout in Bengaluru was 62% in 2013 and 57% in 2018. The counting of votes will be held on Saturday. The BJP in this election is trying to undo the three-decade history of a ruling party not returning to power while the Congress is trying to harness the issue of price rise and alleged corruption of the incumbent government to return to power after five years, even as the Janata Dal(S) is fighting to retain its influence in State politics. Voting was largely peaceful barring sporadic incidents of clashes between party workers. Skirmishes were reported in several districts, including Kolar, Ballari, Vijayapura and Gadag. At Masabinal village in Basavana Bagewadi in Vijayapura district, the polling scene turned violent as villagers smashed the spare electronic voting machines (EVM) thinking that the officials were taking them away by stopping the poll process. In 2018, the BJP fell short of the majority mark (113 seats), managing to grab 104 seats; leading to Congress (80 seats) allying with JDS (37 seats) to form a coalition government with wafer-thin majority of 117 seats. However, the uneasy alliance ruptured in July 2019, when 15 MLAs from Congress-JDS resigned and joined BJP. Later, they were re-elected in bypolls, handing BJP the majority, ushering in B.S Yediyurappa’s fourth term as Chief Minister. The Hindu’s Editorials Pawar play: On the churn in politics in Maharashtra Snap judgement: On India’s Project Cheetah The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz Which of the following communities are involved in the communal riots roiling Manipur? Boro Khasi Zomi Konyak To know the answer and play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 11 May 2023 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Karnataka records 72.68% turnout in Assembly polls The Karnataka Assembly election held on Wednesday[saw a voter turnout of 72.68%]( per provisional data at 11 p.m, surpassing the 72.36% recorded in 2018. Bengaluru’s turnout in the 28 constituencies remained at an estimated 54.51%, despite a campaign blitz by several national leaders of all parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and special drives by the Election Commission to enthuse urban voters. In stark contrast to Bengaluru, its neighbouring districts with large rural pockets recorded a heavy turnout. Chikkaballapura recorded a turnout of 85.83%, followed by Ramanagara at 84.98%, Bengaluru Rural at 83.76% and Tumakuru at 83.49%. After Bengaluru, Kalaburagi at 65.22%, Yadgiri at 66.66% and Raichur at 69.79% recorded a relatively lower turnout. Karnataka had reported a poll percentage of 71.45% in 2013 and 72.1% in 2018. The turnout in Bengaluru was 62% in 2013 and 57% in 2018. The counting of votes will be held on Saturday. The BJP in this election is trying to undo the three-decade history of a ruling party not returning to power while the Congress is trying to harness the issue of price rise and alleged corruption of the incumbent government to return to power after five years, even as the Janata Dal(S) is fighting to retain its influence in State politics. Voting was largely peaceful barring sporadic incidents of clashes between party workers. Skirmishes were reported in several districts, including Kolar, Ballari, Vijayapura and Gadag. At Masabinal village in Basavana Bagewadi in Vijayapura district, the polling scene turned violent as villagers smashed the spare electronic voting machines (EVM) thinking that the officials were taking them away by stopping the poll process. In 2018, the BJP fell short of the majority mark (113 seats), managing to grab 104 seats; leading to Congress (80 seats) allying with JDS (37 seats) to form a coalition government with wafer-thin majority of 117 seats. However, the uneasy alliance ruptured in July 2019, when 15 MLAs from Congress-JDS resigned and joined BJP. Later, they were re-elected in bypolls, handing BJP the majority, ushering in B.S Yediyurappa’s fourth term as Chief Minister. The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][Pawar play: On the churn in politics in Maharashtra]( [Arrow][Snap judgement: On India’s Project Cheetah]( The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz Which of the following communities are involved in the communal riots roiling Manipur? - Boro - Khasi - Zomi - Konyak To know the answer and play the full quiz, click [here.]( [Sign up for free]( [[Sena vs Sena | SC paves way for disqualification of Shinde camp, says it cannot reinstate Uddhav as CM] Sena vs Sena | SC paves way for disqualification of Shinde camp, says it cannot reinstate Uddhav as CM]( [[Delhi vs Centre row: SC holds Delhi government has control over administrative services] Delhi vs Centre row: SC holds Delhi government has control over administrative services]( [[Google launches Pixel 7a with Tensor G2 chip] Google launches Pixel 7a with Tensor G2 chip]( [[Deepika Padukone appears on cover of TIME magazine] Deepika Padukone appears on cover of TIME magazine]( Copyright @ 2023, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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