The single phase voting for Karnataka assembly elections 2018 in the 222 constituencies is underway, under a thick blanket of security. Polling will decide the fate of 2, 636 candidates fighting to win the poll. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah sidelining the BJP chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa's claim stated that his ty will win 150 seats and he will form the government in the state on May 17. Congress CM candidate, Siddaramaiah, also called him “mentally disturbed” and said he is confident that his party will win over 120 seats in the state.
"Yeddyurappa is mentally disturbed. Congress will get more than 120 seats. I am very confident," Siddaramaiah told the media. He also said that the Congress party will come back to power with a complete majority.
Earlier on Saturday, BJP chief minister candidate, BS Yeddyurappa after casting his vote, said, “I will fly to on the 15th once the results are announced and meet Prime Minister (Narendra), Modi. I will invite him and others for the swearing-in ceremony which is going to happen most likely on the 17th.” BS Yeddyurappa is the BJP candidate from Shikaripura.
Karnataka assembly polls is a tough challenge for Congress-led Siddaramaiah who is contesting from Badami and Chamundeshwari, to form his leadership once again to beat BJP which is hoping to return to power in the state.
“I have toured the entire state three times and am 100 per cent confident that we will win by a big margin. You all will see for yourselves this evening what the exit polls say,” said Yeddyurappa adding that the people were fed up with the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Out of the 224 seats, 36 of them are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), while 15 of them are for Scheduled Tribes (Sts). The total voters including service electors according to the 2018 final rolls are 5,06,90,538, of whom 2,56,75,579 are male voters, 2,50,09,904 females and 5,055 transgender voters.
The votes for the 222 constituencies of the 224 seats will be counted on May 15. Over 2,600 candidates are in the fray -- more than 2,400 are men and over 200 are women.