Bengaluru: With the Lok Sabha elections scheduled declared, KarnatakaChief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Sunday expressed hope the polls would be conducted in a level playing field and all partiesrespect the voters' decision. "India is set for another election. In this battle of democracy, I hope elections are conducted in a level playing field. All parties and candidates must follow the guidelines issued by the ECI and uphold the values of democracy, and respect the decision of the voters," he tweeted.

Elections will be held in two phases for the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka on April 18 and April 23, Karnataka Chief Election Officer Sanjiv Kumar told reporters here. A total of 5,03,46,721 voters, including 2,48,47,292 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise as per the final electoral roll, Kumar said.

Wishing all candidates for good performance, state BJP President B S Yeddyurappa appealed all voters to cast their vote and work together for a mission. "I appeal to all voters to turn up to vote and reinforce the democratic ethos of the nation. Let's work together for mission #PhirEkBaarModiSarkar. I Wish all candidates the very best for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," he tweeted.

Former Prime Minister and JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda said the Congress-JDS coalition combine will finalise their seat-sharing in a few days. Of the 28 parliamentary seats in Karnataka, five seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste and two for Scheduled Tribe, the Chief Electoral officer said.

The five reserved constituencies for SC are Bijapur, Kalaburgi, Chitradurga, Chamrajnagar and Kolar, whereas, reserved seats for ST are Raichur and Ballari, he said. In the first and second phase, elections to 14 Lok Sabha seats each will be held on April 18 and April 23.

For the first phase, notifications would be issued on Mar 19 and last date for nominations would be March 26. The scrutiny of nominations would be on March 27 and the last date for withdrawal March 29, he added.

For the second phase, notification would be issued on March 28 and last date for nominations would be April 4, Kumar said, adding that the scrutiny will be conducted on April 5 and last date for withdrawal will be April 8. He also said there was a seven per cent increase in the number of polling station for this elections compared to the 2014 polls.

"There are 58,186 polling stations this time compared to 54,265 in 2014 election," he added. Kumar also said as many as 600 women-managed polling stations will be set up across Karnataka.