The starters gun has gone off the race to power in Karnataka.The Election Commission announced the 12th of May as the poll date for the single phase assembly elections where counting will be held 3 days later on the 15th of May.

Stakes are high for both the BJP and the Congress in the state. Victory or loss could mean a lot for both the national parties in this battle in a build up to the big one in 2019.

Chief Election Commissioner sounded the poll bugle in Karnataka on Tuesday. Electoral politics has been peaking during the last few months in the state due to high profile political visits and other activities.

It will now build up to crescendo as the poll watchdog has decided to holding elections in the state in a single phase on the 12th of May. Counting will be held 3 days later on the 15th.

KARNATAKA ELECTION SCHEDULE

-- Notification is to be issued on the 17th of April for the 224-member assembly

-- 24th of April is the last date for filing nominations

-- Scrutiny of nominations papers will be held the next day

-- Last date for withdrawing nomination is the 27th of April

-- 12th of May has been fixed as polling date

- Counting will be held on the 15th

Model code of conduct has come into force with poll schedule announcement.While the Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for conducting Karnataka polls.it has also issued guidelines for political parties, candidates and the media.

BATTLEGROUND KARNATAKA

-- Karnataka has a total of 4 crore 96 lakh voters

-- 56,696 pollings stations will be put in place for voting

-- over 450 pollings stations are to be managed fully by women

-- VVPATs will be used at all polling stations along with EVMs

-- Election expenditure will be tightly watched

-- Large sums of money will seized if there's no proper paperwork

-- Central police forces will be deployed to ensure free & fair elections

-- Loudspeakers will stay silent from 10 pm to 6 am

113 seats are required to cross the halfway mark in Karnataka's 224 members assembly.The Congress is in power in in the state at present.

-- In the 2013 elections.the Congress won 122 seats from a total of 224.

-- The BJP got 40 seats

-- And so did the JD

-- Yeddyurappa contested on his own after breaking away from BJP but his party got only 6 seats

Yeddyuprappa is now back in the BJP as its Chief Ministerial face. The Congress is betting on Chief Minister Siddharamaiah's leadership once again.The battle for Karnataka is a life and death matter for the Congress as it has power only in Punjab, Mizoram and Puducherry apart from the poll going state.

The BJP is looking to take its 'Congress mukta Bharat' pledge to recapture its southern citadel.It won 17 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in the 2014 general elections and looking to repeat the performance in the assembly contest.The JD-BSP alliance is looking to challenge the 2 principle contestants.

KARNATAKA ELECTIONS: KEY ISSUES

-- The work done by the Siddharamaiah govt is the key election issue

-- Allegations of corruption have been levelled by Opposition making them a deciding factor

-- BJP has made development its battlecry

-- State of civic facilities in IT city Bengaluru

-- Murders of rationalists and law & order situation

-- State govt's move to give minority status to dominant Lingayat community are also major issues

Clearly, the battle for Karnataka is a critical one for all stakeholders be it the people of the state, political parties or the entire nation. With the announcement of the poll schedule its likely to intensify even further.