Page 275 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Spotlight on Recent Elections Chapter 12

Voting spree in Tura, Meghalaya A senior citizen exercising her right to vote
through postal ballot, Meghalaya

due to death of a candidate. Thus elections on February Elections to Karnataka Legislative Assembly were the last
27 actually took place in 3419 out of 3482 polling ones to be completed before this book went to print.
stations. Meghalaya had comparatively lesser number of Karnataka is a major state of India, having 224-seat
senior citizen voters in 80+ years category (22, 663). The Legislative Assembly, besides a Legislative Council. The
state had 7478 PwD voters. Meghalaya registered 86.72 elections to the 16 Karnataka Legislative Assembly were
percent voter turnout in the single phased polling held on announced by the Election Commission of India in New
February 27. Delhi on March 29, 2023. As in the past, single phased
polling was planned for all 224 seats, out of which 36 was
In 66,000 plus polling stations in Gujarat, Himachal
reserved for Scheduled Caste and 15 for Scheduled Tribe
Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura put together, the polling
candidates. May 10 was designated as the poll day,
process was completely peaceful, and there was no
whereas counting was fixed for May 13. Provision was
demand for re-polling. There were repolls only in four out
made for 58,282 polling stations based on the electorate
of 2315 polling stations of Nagaland, mainly due to human
figure as in the electoral roll finalised on January 5, 2023.
and local (geographical) factors. The total seizures during
the elections in five states in 2022/23 amounted to INR However, since August, 2022 the electoral roll is being
1028.73 crore thus registering a 20 times increase over updated every quarter rather than annually as before.
INR 43.49 crore figure in 2017/28. This is a testimony to Due to a sustained inclusion drive, a total of 16,04,285
heightened vigilance, greater coordination amongst fresh names were added to the electoral roll since its
agencies, and firm commitment to free and fair elections. finalisation in January. These additions took the total

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