Polling begins in Bengaluru Assembly constituency

"Voting began at 7 a.m. across the 216 polling booths," he added.

Polling in the seat was countermanded following the death of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar on May 4.

The BJP nominated Kumar's younger brother B.N. Prahlad as its candidate.

Withdrawal of Janata Dal-Secular's (JD-S) contestant Kalegowda from the fray on June 5 in support of the Congress nominee Sowmya Reddy, has made the electoral battle a straight contest between the two national parties.

In all, 19 candidates, including nine Independents are in the fray. The other woman candidate in the contest is Nayeema Khanum of the Praja Raita Raajya Paksha.

Polling will continue till 6 p.m.

A total of 3,12,252 registered voters will exercise their franchise. The votes will be counted on Wednesday.