As Karnataka goes to the polls in three phases--on May 10, 16 and 22--quirks and attributes unique to the political process in the state are going to be thrown up. A primer on the state and its poll practices:

The Assembly

• The Karnataka legislative assembly is a 224-member assembly of elected representatives. One additional member is nominated. The simple majority mark is 113.

• The total number of reserved constituencies for scheduled castes and tribes for the current elections is 51--up from 35 in the 2004 polls--following delimitation of constituencies. The SC seats are 36 and ST seats are 15.

• Karnataka is the first state to go to elections following the delimitation process. Voters and candidates have taken a while to understand the new electoral jurisdictions.

The Polls

Elections will be held in three phases.

Phase 1 on May 10 will cover 11 districts and 89 constituencies. The 11 districts that will go to the polls are the southernmost ones in the state--Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Ramanagara, Mandya, Chamarajnagar, Mysore, Kodagu, Hassan, Tumkur, Chikaballapur and Kolar.

Phase 2 on May 16 will cover 10 central and coastal districts and a total of 66 constituencies of the state. The districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada in the coastal belt; Shimoga and Chikamagalur in the Western Ghats; Davangere, Chitradurga, Bellary, Koppal and Raichur in the plains will be covered in this phase.

Phase 3 on May 22 will cover eight districts and 69 seats in the northern most part of the state. Districts bordering Maharashtra are referred to as the Bombay-Karnataka districts and others bordering Andhra Pradesh are referred to as the Hyderabad-Karnataka districts. The districts are Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Gulbarga and Bidar.

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