Nearly 30% exercise franchise by 1300 hrs

Around 30% of the estimated 1.55 crore electorate today exercised their franchise by 1300 hrs during the second and final phase of polling in 11 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka today.     

Dakshina Kannada registered a voting percentage of 40 by 1200 noon, Chief Electoral Officer,M N Vidyashankar told PTI.     

"Polling has been peaceful so far, with no untoward incident reported", he added.     

The 11 constituencies that went to the poll include some areas like Udupi-Chikmagalur that face naxal menace and where the outlaws had called for a poll boycott.    

Of the total number of eligible voters in 11 constituencies 76,84,355 are men and 75,28,631 women.     

In the second phase of polls, Mysore has the highest number of electorate with 15,77,618 voters.     

Udupi-Chikmagalur has the lowest number of eligible voters at 12,03,850.      

In the first phase of polling in 17 constituencies on April 23, 54.60% of voters exercised their franchise. Sweltering heat was attributed as one of the reasons for voters not turning out to vote in high numbers.