Voting is underway for bypolls to 15 assembly seats in Karnataka that will determine the fate of chief minister B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government.

The actual strength of the House is 224 members, but 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs had resigned in July and switched over to the BJP, leading to the collapse of HD Kumaraswamy’s coalition government.

The polling that began at 7 am is scheduled to conclude at 6 pm.The results of which will be declared on December 9.

An estimated 17.06 per cent voters’ turnout has been registered till 11am since polling began.

BJP candidates from K R PuramByrathi Basavaraj, Gopalaiah of Mahalakshmi Layout, S T Somashekar of Yeshwanthpura were among the early voters in their pooling booths.

The BJP has also told voters that if the Yediyurappa government continues it will be the first time in 25 years that the same party will be in power in the state and at the Centre, resulting in big development benefits for Karnataka. “The Congress and JD(S) have already given up hopes of winning the bypolls. They did not come together and field a candidate for Rajya Sabha elections to fight the BJP candidate. This means they know the outcome of the bypolls. The BJP will win all 15 seats,’’ Yediyurappa said at an election in Athani constituency on the penultimate campaign day.

The constituencies going to by-polls are Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagar, Chikballapur, KR Puram, Yeshwanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagar, Hoskote, KR Pet and Hunsur.

Polling officials said 884 polling stations have been marked critical and 414 stations will be manned by CAPF. The by-polls were earlier slated for October 21, but the EC had deferred them to December 5 after the apex court decided to hear the petitions of the disqualified MLAs.