By polls to be held in 3 LS, 2 Assembly seats in Karnataka.

New Delhi, Oct 6  The Election Commission on Saturday announced by-elections in three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies in Karnataka on November 3 and the result will be out on November 6.

By-elections will be held in Shimoga, Bellary (ST) and Mandya Lok Sabha constituencies and Ramanagaram and Jankhandi Assembly seats, Chief Election Commissioner O. P. Rawat announced in a press conference. 

Notification for all the by-elections will be issued on October 9 and the last date for filing the nomination will be October 16. Scrutiny will be done on October 17 while the last date for withdrawal of candidature will be October 20. 

Asked why the by-elections are being held with just eight months left for the Lok Sabha elections, Rawat said that the Lok Sabha seats had fallen vacant more than one year before the tenure of the House was to end and so the Commission was bound to hold the elections. 

Assembly elections were held in Karnataka in May this year. 

He said that electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) will be used in all the polling stations in the by-elections.