189 cases of major election violations booked in Karnataka: EC

Bengaluru: As Karnataka gears for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 26, the Election Commission on Wednesday said all the polling stations in the Bangalore Rural and Mysore constituencies will be webcast. As of now, a total of 189 cases have been booked against political parties or candidates for major violations under the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), they said.

Addressing a press conference, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena said 1.4 lakh polling officials will be on duty at the 30,602 polling stations across the 14 constituencies which are going for polls in the first phase on Friday.

Besides them, 5,000 micro observers, 50,000 civil police personnel, 65 companies of Central Parliamentary Force and State Armed Police force of other states will also be deployed for security at these polling stations, he said.

"All the 2,829 polling stations of Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency will be 100 percent webcast. This is as per the request of our returning officers and observers; so we have given more than double central parliamentary force for the Bangalore Rural Constituency. Seven companies of central paramilitary forces have been inducted at the constituency since April 22," he said.

The 14 segments facing polls in the first phase are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkballapur and Kolar.

There are a total of 2,88,19,342 electors in these constituencies -- 1,44,28,099 male, 1,43,88,176 female and 3,067 third gender.