68% turnout in Karnataka, Mandya tops with 80%

Bengaluru, April 19 -- Karnataka saw almost 68 per cent voter turnout in the state's 14 Lok Sabha seats which went to polls on Thursday.

"The estimated voter turnout at the end of polling in 30,164 booths spanning 14 parliamentary seats is 67.89 per cent," a senior poll official told IANS here.

The highest polling - 80.23 per cent - was registered in the high-profile Mandya seat where Nikhil Gowda, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, is challenged by multilingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, contesting as an Independent backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mandya was followed by Dakshina Kannada with 77.69 per cent, Hassan 77.28 per cent, Tumkur 77.01 per cent, Chikkaballapur 76.27 per cent, Kolar (SC) 75.94 per cent and Udupi...