The Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka will be held in two phases for 28 constituencies as per the poll schedule announced by the Election Commission of India on Saturday, March 16.
Polling for all 543 parliamentary constituencies will be held in seven phases across the country. The Lok Sabha polls will be held between April 19 and June 1 while the results will be declared on June 4.
Karnataka is going to witness a direct face-off between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Congress, which is in power in the southern state. It will be a two-corner contest in the upcoming Lok Sabhal polls as the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) has joined the NDA this time.
The 2024 general elections in Karnataka could be a high-stakes contest for both BJP and Congress. With the Congress returning to power in the southern state with a thumping majority in the Assembly elections held in May 2023, it does not seem to be a cakewalk for BJP-led NDA like the last time.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA won 26 seats, out of which 25 constituencies were secured by BJP itself. On the other hand, the Congress and JD(S) alliance managed to win only two seats.
The state saw a total voter turnout of 68.81% in 2019. The BJP secured a 51.38% vote share, restricting Congress and JD(S) to 31.88% and 9.67%, respectively.
Karnataka Lok Sabha elections 2024: Polling dates
Voting in Karnataka will be held in two phases on April 26 ( for 14 seats) and May 7. In both the phases 14 seats each will go into polls.
Karnataka Lok Sabha elections 2024: Total seats
There are 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state, out of which five are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and two seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
Karnataka Lok Sabha elections 2024: BJP candidates list
BJP released the list of candidates for 20 seats in Karnataka on Wednesday, March 13. While the BJP is going to contest in 25 seats, the remaining 3 constituencies will go to alliance partner JD(S).
Recently, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that the BJP has allotted three seats -- Mandya, Hassan and Kolar -- to his party for the upcoming polls. However, an official announcement from the NDA regarding the seat-sharing formula in the state is yet to be made.
Here's a list of candidates announced by the BJP so far in Karnataka:
| S. No. | Lok Sabha seats | BJP candidates |
| 1 | Chikkodi | Annasaheb Shankar Jolle |
| 2 | Belgaum | Jagadish Shettar |
| 3 | Bagalkot | PC Gaddigoudar |
| 4 | Bijapur | Ramesh Jigajinagi |
| 5 | Gulbarga | Umesh Jadhav |
| 6 | Raichur | Raja Amareshwara Naik |
| 7 | Bidar | Bhagwanth Khuba |
| 8 | Koppal | Basavraj Kyavator |
| 9 | Bellary | B Sriramulu |
| 10 | Haveri | Basavraj Bommai |
| 11 | Dharwad | Pralhad Joshi |
| 12 | Uttara Kannada | Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri |
| 13 | Davanagere | Gayathri Siddeshwara |
| 14 | Shimoga | BY Raghvendra |
| 15 | Udupi Chikmagalur | Kota Srinivas Poojary |
| 16 | Hassan | |
| 17 | Dakshina Kannada | Brijesh Chowta |
| 18 | Chitradurga | |
| 19 | Tumkur | V Somanna |
| 20 | Mandya | |
| 21 | Mysore | Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar |
| 22 | Chamarajanagar | S Balaraj |
| 23 | Bangalore Rural | CN Manjunath |
| 24 | Bangalore North | Sobha Karandlaje |
| 25 | Bangalore Central | PC Mohan |
| 26 | Bangalore South | Tejasvi Surya |
| 27 | Chikballapur | K. Sudhakar |
| 28 | Kolar |
