Major polling divide in Karnataka in 4 hours

Low to moderate voting was witnessed in the first fours on Thursday for the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the central and southern Karnataka, an official said.

"Voting picked up gradually after beginning on a dull note in some seats. It was moderate in the other seats in the first two hours," state joint chief electoral officer A.V. Surya Sen told IANS.

Till 11 a.m., around 19.69 per cent electorate cast their votes in Bangalore South, a mere 6.01 per cent did in Bangalore Central, 7.23 per cent in Bangalore North and 6.31 per cent in Bangalore Rural.

Brisk voting was, however, witnessed in Udupi-Chikmagalur with 23.11 per cent turnout in the first 4 hours of polling, followed by 21 per cent in Dakshina Kannada, 16.50 per cent in Tumkur and 15.18 per cent in Chitradurga.

But it was yet to gain momentum in other seats, as Kolar (SC) saw only 6.3 per cent, Chikkabalapur 6.8 per cent, Mandya 7.5 per cent, Hassan 10.73 per cent, Chamarajnagar 10.81 and Mysore 11.96 per cent till 11 a.m. IANS