The Election Commission Tuesday announced elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Polls 2018.

Polls will be held on 12 May 2018.Date of Counting votes is 15 May 2018.

Chief Electoral Commissioner O P Rawat addressed the media. VVPAT machines, apart from EVMs, will be deployed in Karnataka for the polls. The poll body has been using VVPAT machines in elections since last year.

 Rawat said accessible elections are the EC's theme for elections this year. For this year, the polling body has ensured special focus on convenient voting for persons with disabilities. Special arrangements for women are being made. All-women polling booths will be set up across the state, he added.

57000 polling stations are created. Worth mentioning here for  Karnataka Legislative Assembly Polls there are  4 carores, 96 lakhs voters.The 224-member House expires on May 28 this year. The Congress is at present in power in the state, with 122 seats against the BJP’s 43. Karnataka is one of the eight states that go to polls this year.

The Model Code of Conduct now came into effect as the EC announce the election schedule.It will also be applicable to the Union Govt. This could mean the Centre, which is mulling the option of approaching the Supreme Court seeking the extension of the deadline set by the court to formulate a scheme in the Cauvery water dispute, may not be able to do so. The Centre was given six weeks to formulate a scheme; the deadline is March 29.

The political heat in the state is on a sharp scale as Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BJP national president Amit Shah kicking off campaigning in the poll-battle-ground state.

Yesterday BJP president Amit Shah who is on the two-day visit in poll-bound state Karnataka announced the party's chief ministerial candidate will be BS Yeddyurappa. Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) is the third party in the poll-battle.

In 2013, the Congress bagged 122 seats in the 24-member Legislative Assembly Polls.