Bengaluru, 19 October

The Karnataka government has declared Special Casual Leave on 23 October to enable voters to exercise their franchise in the biennial elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council from Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies. The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) has issued an order in this regard.

With the voting holiday coinciding with the weekend and Valmiki Jayanti holiday on 26 October, eligible employees may get four consecutive days off from Friday to Monday.

The special leave is available only to registered voters in the following constituencies:

1. Karnataka South-East Graduates' Constituency: Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Davanagere.

2. Karnataka West Graduates' Constituency: Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Uttara Kannada.

3. Karnataka North-East Teachers' Constituency: Kalaburagi, Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari and Vijayanagara.

4. Bengaluru Teachers' Constituency: Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara (Bengaluru South).

For Graduates' Constituencies the voter must be a graduate from a recognised university with at least three years having passed after graduation, must reside in the constituency districts, and must have registered through Form 18.

For Teachers' Constituencies the voter must have worked full-time as a teacher or lecturer for at least three years in a recognised secondary school, PU college, degree college or university, and must have registered through Form 19.

Meanwhile, N.Ravikumar, the Chief Whip of the Legislative Council, expressed confidence that the BJP–JD(S) alliance would win all the four seats in the Teachers’ and Graduates’ Constituency elections scheduled on 23 October.