Voting began at a slow pace at 7am in most parts of Karnataka, moderated by noon and then picked up pace
The election to 105 Urban Local Bodies across Karnataka held from 7am to 5pm registered 63.8 per cent voting, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Friday.
The local bodies across 24 districts of the state registered an average voting percentage of 63.8, according to polling data from the SEC released on Friday night.
Voting which began at a slow pace at 7am in most parts of the southern state moderated by noon and then picked up pace.
Polling took place peacefully across the 2,662 wards of the state, spread over 29 city municipalities, 53 town municipalities and 23 town panchayats and in 135 wards of the three city corporations, an election official said.
Electronic Voting Machines were used for polling in all the wards amid tight security, with about 40,000 personnel deployed across the state to maintain law and order.
A total of 36 lakh voters were registered for exercising their franchise in the ULB wards and 13.33 lakh in the three towns of Mysuru, Shivamogga and Tumakuru.
In all, 8,340 candidates, including 2,306 from the Congress, 2,203 from the Bharatiya Janata Party and 1,397 from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are in the fray for the ULBs, while 814 contested from the city corporations, including 135 from Congress, 130 from BJP and 129 from JD-S.
Counting of votes will be taken up on September 3 and most of the results are expected by night or early Tuesday.
In the 2013 ULB elections held in 4,976 seats, the Congress had won 1,960 seats, while BJP and JD-S had won 905 seats each, while independents bagged the remaining 1,206 seats.