Bangalore, May 13 (ANI): Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswami will arrive in Dharwad today to review the poll preparations for the third phase of Assembly elections in Karnataka.

69 assembly segments in eight districts, including Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulburga, Bidar, Gadag, Dharwad and Haveri will go to the final phase of polls on May 22.

During their visit, Gopalaswami along with two other Election Commissioners Dr. S Y Qureshi and Navin Chawla will review the poll arrangements of assembly constituencies.

Of the 224 assembly segments in the state, 66 will go to polls in the second phase on May 16. On May 11, an average of 66 per cent polling was registered in the first phase of elections in the segments spread over 11 districts.

In the first phase of Karnataka Assembly polls, 66 per cent of 1.73 crore electorate exercised their franchise in 89 of the total 224 constituencies in the dominant Vokkaliga belt, home turf of JD-S leader H D Deve Gowda and Congress strongman S M Krishna.

This is higher than the 65.07 per cent average polled in the 224 assembly segments in 2004 polls. (ANI)