Karnataka polls: FM Sitharaman, Narayana and Sudha Murty, were early voters

Senior Congress leader G Parameshwara, and ministers including R Ashoka, Araga Jnanendra, C N Ashwath Narayan and K Sudhakar also exercised their franchise in the initial hours of polling.

We are oldies but we get up at 6 o’clock to vote: Sudha Murty

Padma Bhushan awardee Sudha Murty, later told news agency ANI that youngsters should be encouraged to come out early and vote.  “Please look at us. We are oldies but we get up at 6 o’clock, come here and vote. Please learn from us. Voting is a sacred part of democracy.”

Her husband Narayan Murthy after casting his vote said, “It is the responsibility of the elders to sit down with youngsters and advise them why voting is important. That’s what my parents did.”

Urging people to exercise their franchise, Narayana Murthy said the people do not have the right to “criticise” the governance if they do not cast their votes.

“First, we vote and then we can say this is good, this is not good but if we don’t do that then we don’t have the right to criticise,” he said while talking to the reporters. Murthy said he had returned this morning from abroad and had turned up to vote.

Also, actor Prakash Raj, Amulya and her husband, Ganesh, his wife, actor Ramesh Aravind were also seen casting their votes early in the day.   

21% voter turnout till 11 am

A voter turnout of 20.99 per cent was recorded till 11 am on Wednesday in the polls to elect representatives for the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

The highest turnout in the first four hours of polling, which began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm, was in the coastal district of Udupi (30.26 per cent) and the lowest in Chamarajanagar district (16.77 per cent), election officials said.