Elections to the Karnataka Assembly will be held in a single phase on May 12 and the results will be announced on May 15, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.
Notifications will be issued on April 17 and the last date of filing nomination is April 24. Last date to withdraw candidature is April 27, said Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat.
Cricket legend Rahul Dravid will be the brand ambassador for this year's assembly polls.
There are a total of 224 constituencies in the Congress-ruled state. The tenure of the present assembly ends on May 28, 2018.
Average voters per constituency in the state are 2.21 lakh. Around 7,72,649 young voters have been enrolled this time.
As many as 56,696 polling stations would be set up this time, Rawat said and added that VVPATs would be deployed in all polling stations. All-women manned booth would also be set up, he said.
The poll panel has fixed the ceiling on expenditure for a candidate in each constituency as Rs 28 lakh.
Earlier BJP's IT Cell head Amit Malviya's tweet announcing the dates even before the commission's press meet had created a controversy. Reacting to this, Rawat said the alleged leak would be investigated.
While the ruling Congress is trying to retain power in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party is leaving no stone unturned to seize the southern state from it.
In the run-up to the polls, extensive campaigning has been witnessed by both aforementioned parties, as both Congress and BJP frontrunners have been making numerous visits to the state to garner support for their respective parties.