Lok Sabha elections 2019: Alliance vote switch may be key in Karnataka

Voting was held on Thursday in 14 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and turnout was 68.10% — close to the 68.68% in the 2014 elections — according to the Election Commission.

Voting was held on Thursday in 14 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and turnout was 68.10% — close to the 68.68% in the 2014 elections — according to the Election Commission.

CM HD Kumaraswamy, his wife and son cast their votes. (PTI file photo)

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition is contesting the polls against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has won over half the seats in the state in the past three elections.

Voting was held in the southern regions of the state and the primary issue that dominated the polls was the coordination between the coalition partners, who are bitter rivals in the region. High octane campaigns were held in the Mandya, Mysuru, and all three Bengaluru seats. Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s Tumakuru seat, too, went to the polls. His grandsons, Nikhil Kumar, son of chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, and Prajwal Revanna, son of HD Revanna, too, were in the fray.

Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda contested against state rural development minister Krishna Byregowda. In Bengaluru South, Congress’s BK Hariprasad was pitted against newcomer Tejasvi Surya of the BJP. Sumalatha, wife of former union minister, MH Ambareesh, was pitted against Nikhil in Mandya.

Dakshina Kannada recorded the highest turnout of 77.22%, while Bengaluru Central recorded a low 47.31% turnout.