Bengaluru: The assembly elections in Karnataka will be held on May 12, as announced by the Election Commission today and the counting of the votes will be on May 15.

“There is a nine per cent increase in the total voters at 4,96,82,351 as compared to 4,36,85,739 voters in 2013. The male voters are 2,52,05,820 in 2018 as compared to 2,23,15,727 in 2013, the female voters are 2,44,71,979 in 2018 as compared to 2,13,67,912 in 2013. The transgender voters are 4,552 in 2018 as compared to 2100 in 2013,’’ Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told media persons here on Tuesday.

He said that during the 2013 assembly elections, 3,13,81,136 votes polled including 1,97,610 postal ballots. Out of the 3,12,13,124 total votes polled in polling stations, 1,61,55,714 were male voters and 1,50,57,361 were female voters.

“The total percentage of votes polled during 2013 is 71.45 per cent and this percentage among male voters is 72.40 per cent, 70.4 per cent among female voters and two per cent in the case of the transgendered,’’ he said.

The Election Commission has been creating awareness about the importance of electoral participation among the voters in the state through Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).

“It is expected that the polling of voters will cross 75 per cent in the elections,’’ he said.

There are 15,42,000 young voters in the age group of 18-19 years in 2018 as compared to 7,18,000 in 2013.

“The young voters ratio has increased from 1.16 per cent to 2.20 per cent. Gender ratio increased from 958 to 972 in the same period. Elector Population (EP) ratio remained same,’’ he said.

Polling stations

Due to the increase of voters, the number of polling stations has also increased from 52,034 (2013) to 56,696 in 2018. An additional 1,850 auxiliary polling stations are being established this year.

“Over 3.50 lakh polling personnel are expected to be on election duty. There will be 1361 MCC teams, 1503 static surveillance teams, 1542 flying squads and 1097 check posts will be put up for the Assembly elections,’’ he said.

Law and order

The Election Commission has directed the police to execute all pending 42,815 non-bailable warrants (NBWs) immediately. There are 92,867 licensed arms, out of which 31,227 arms have been deposited and 15 illegal arms have been seized.

“As part of preventive measures, under Section 107 CrPC 29,030 cases have been registered, 15,405 interim bonds have been taken. 1096 previous election cases are pending in various courts, 16,046 litres of illicit liquor is seized by the police department and excise department seized 1,292 litres of liquor,’’ he said.

He said a total of 7010 complaints were received, 6,825 cases are disposed and out of which 136 cases are found true.

IT initiatives

The election commission has provided GPS-based vehicle tracking for flying squads and GIS-enabled complete database of polling station and digital maps. “Digital atlas of all polling station areas and Assembly constituency will be provided. We have planned to have 450 all women polling stations, one at each Assembly constituency in rural areas and four at each Assembly constituency in urban areas on a pilot basis,’’ he said.

He said Rahul Dravid has been selected as the state election icon while lyricist and film director Yograj Bhat would make a title song.

There are 224 Assembly constituencies and among them, 36 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 15 for Scheduled Tribes.

The gazette notification for Assembly elections would be issued on April 17 and last date of nominations is April 24 and date for scrutiny of nominations is April 25 and the last date for withdrawal of the nominations is April 17.