Karnataka Assembly Elections
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in southern India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are the Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and the Vidhan Parishad (upper house). The members of the Vidhana Sabha are directly elected by people through adult franchise.
There are 224 members of the Vidhana Sabha or the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka state. The state of Karnataka is divided into 224 constituencies used to elect the Legislative assembly members. Each constituency elects one member of the assembly. Members are popularly known as MLAs. The assembly is elected using the simple plurality or "first past the post" electoral system. The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.
The normal term of the members lasts for five years. In case of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, a by-election is conducted for constituency represented by the member. The party, or coalition which has the majority becomes the ruling party. The last legislative Assembly elections in Assam were held in May 2018.
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in southern India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are the Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and the Vidhan Parishad (upper house). The members of the Vidhana Sabha are directly elected by people through adult franchise.
There are 224 members of the Vidhana Sabha or the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka state. The state of Karnataka is divided into 224 constituencies used to elect the Legislative assembly members. Each constituency elects one member of the assembly. Members are popularly known as MLAs. The assembly is elected using the simple plurality or "first past the post" electoral system. The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.
The normal term of the members lasts for five years. In case of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, a by-election is conducted for constituency represented by the member. The party, or coalition which has the majority becomes the ruling party. The last legislative Assembly elections in Assam were held in May 2018.
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- The Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections in 2018 saw 2,638 candidates contesting for 224 seats, a 10.5% decrease over the 2013 Assembly elections with 2,948 candidates.
- A record 84 political parties contested the 2018 Assembly elections, in comparison to 60 parties in the 2013 Assembly elections.
- The huge number of political parties contesting the 2018 elections fueled claims from many factions of the polity and society, that these new parties are created as 'fronts' just to help the electoral prospects of specific political parties by cutting into the opposition votes. The claims were supported by the fact that 74 of the 84 parties secured less than or equal to 0.1% votes individually and only 1.1% of total votes cast in the 2018 Assembly elections collectively.
- Karnataka had 50.5 million registered voters (electors) in the 2018 Assembly elections, in comparison to 43.7 million registered voters in 2013.
- 72.1% of the voters exercised their franchise in the 2018 Assembly elections, a 0.6% increase over the 2013 Assembly elections. The voter turnout for men and women were at similar levels at 72.7% and 71.5% respectively.
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