Over 1.1 crore electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise in the phase in which as many as 589 candidates are in the fray.

The most eagerly awaited contest is in Shikaripura in Shimoga district where BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa is challenged by former chief minister and state Samajwadi Party president S Bangarappa, who is also backed by the Congress and JD-S.

"It (Shikaripura) is easily the most eagerly watched contest in the assembly elections," said an analyst. Elaborate security arrangements have been made in central, coastal and Malnad regions and parts of north Karnataka where the BJP had bagged 37 seats followed by the Congress 22 and the JD-S 14, in the 2004 elections.

The districts where voting would take place are: Raichur, Koppal, Uttara Kannada, Bellary, Chitradurga, Davangere, Shimoga, Udupi, Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada. There was hectic campaigning by both Congress and BJP. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi addressed public meetings harping on the stability plank.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Sushma Swaraj and actress-politician Hema Malini campaigned for the BJP while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supreme Mayawati and SP leader Amar Singh campaigned for their parties.

Apart from Yeddyurappa-Bangarappa face-off in Shikaripura, the focus is on Bellary where mine owners call the shots. BJP MLC G Janardhana Reddy's elder brother G Somasekhara Reddy is pitted against Anil Lad, who was with the BJP till a month ago before crossing over to the Congress, in Bellary.

In a dramatic turn of events on Monday, JD-S candidate in Bellary and former minister M Diwakar Babu withdrew from the fray and extended his support to Lad.

In neighbouring Harappanahalli segment in Davanagere district, former deputy chief minister M P Prakash, a new entrant to Congress, is taking on Bellary MP, G Karunakara Reddy of the BJP.

In Soraba in Shimoga district, it's the fight between brothers again -- Kumar Bangarappa, who is seeking re-election, and Madhu Bangarappa (SP), sons of Bangarappa, that has caught the people's attention.

Other prominent candidates include BJP leader and former Minister K S Eshwarappa (Shimoga), Congress' Kagodu Thimmappa (Sagara), and Mahima Patel (son of former chief minister J D Patel) who has floated Suvarna Yuga party (from Chennagiri).