After a rancorous campaign for about a month, the remaining 14 out of total 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka went to polls in the second and final phase on Tuesday, with the battle lines clearly delineated for a bipolar contest between the ruling Congress and the BJP.
On Tuesday evening, the Election Commission of India announced that the voter turnout was 67.56%
The constituencies that went to polls in the second phase are mostly in the northern belt of the State, covering the entire Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka regions, a couple of central districts and coastal Uttara Kannada.
Political analyst Harish Ramaswamy said "Academic studies have shown that voters come out in large numbers due to fatigue against the incumbents and because they feel their representatives have not met their expectations or aspirations."
The BJP and the Congress, however, claimed the high voter turnout was in their favour. "Whenever voting has increased, the BJP has won. In Gulbarga, for instance, the BJP will win because polling has increased,"
