Karnataka will vote for a new government on May 10. Election to the 224-member Assembly will take place in a single phase. The results will be declared on May 13. The term of the Karnataka Assembly ends on May 24.
A party needs to win at least 113 seats to form a government in Karnataka. Of the total 224 seats, 36 seats are reserved for scheduled castes and 15 for scheduled tribes.
Currently, the BJP has 119 MLAs, the Congress has 75 and the JD(S) has 28 seats.
The last date for candidates to file nominations is May 20.
Voting will take place in a total of 58,282 polling stations.
According to the Election Commission, there are 5.24 crore voters in Karnataka. Out of these, 12.15 lakh voters are above the age of 80 and 16,976 are centenarians. The number of first-time voters is 9.85 lakh this year while there are 5.55 lakh persons with disabilities registered with the Election Commission.
The southern state is currently ruled by the BJP. It came to power in 2019 after the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal Secular coalition government. In the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election, the BJP bagged 104 seats emerging as the single-largest party while the Congress won 78 seats and the JD(S) won in 37 constituencies.
This year, Karnataka will witness a triangular contest between the three parties where the BJP is aiming to retain power in the state while the Congress is looking to win the seats it lost in the last election. Senior JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy, meanwhile, has said that his party will form the government on its own by winning 123 seats.
The BJP released its first list of 189 candidates which consists of 52 fresh names. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is contesting from the Shiggaon constituency.
The Congress has already named 166 candidates and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also released two lists with 80 names. The JD(S) released its first list carrying the names of 93 candidates for the upcoming election.