Bengaluru, Apr 21: Elaborate arrangements have been made to successfully conduct the second phase of polling in Karnataka which goes to poll on April 23, state chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar said Sunday.

As many as 237 candidates would try their luck in 14 constituencies of Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere and Shimoga.

Speaking to reporters here, Kumar said, “There are 237 candidates in the fray, of which 227 are men and rest women. A total of 311 candidates had filed 457 nominations of which 29 nominations were rejected. Forty-five candidates had withdrawn their nominations.”

The 14 constituencies have 2.43 crore voters, including 1.2 crore women and 2,022 others.

Among them, the number of first-time voters between the age of 18 and 19 is 5.41 lakh.

The polling would take place in 28,022 booths.

For the smooth conduct of polls, 1.44 lakh poll personnel and 34,548 policemen would be deployed.

In addition, 5,407 personnel from transport department have been deployed.

There are 5,605 critical polling stations of which 1,026 are covered by central armed police force and 2,174 by micro-observers.

The rest would be monitored through web camera and videography.

Since April 20, Rs 31.81 crore in cash, Rs 37 crore worth of liquor, Rs nine crore (precious metals) and Rs 1.31 crore (freebies) have been seized.

PTI