New Delhi, December 2: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced a ban on exit polls from 7 am to 6:30 pm on December 5, 2019, during by-elections to 15 assembly constituencies of Karnataka. Bypolls will take place in 15 of the 17 seats, including the seats left vacant by former JDS and Congress MLAs who resignation led to falling of Congress-JDS coalition government. Karnataka Bypolls 2019: Section 144 From December 3-6, Announces Bengaluru Police, Dry Days Likely to be Observed.

"Under Section 126(1)(b) of the R.P. Act, 1951, displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll for the aforesaid bye-elections," said EC in a press release. Karnataka By-Elections 2019: Why Bypolls to 15 Seats Matter For BJP.

Athani, Gokak, Yellapur, Kagwad, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Hirekerur, Chikkaballapur, Yeshvanthapura, Mahalakshmi Layout, KR Pura, Shivajinagar, Krishnarajpet, Hosakote and Hunsur Assembly Constituencies are going into polls on December 5.

Karnataka bypolls became necessary after sitting Congress and JDS MLAs resigned in July, which led to falling of the coalition government. The by-elections will see the former allies contest separately against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The MLAs who quit were initially barred for contesting till 2023 by then-Karnataka speaker KR Ramesh. The Supreme Court, however, last week, while upholding the disqualification said that they could contest.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 02, 2019 03:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).