Bhatkal: After a fiery campaign and under the clouds of an unsure weather, voting has begun right on time in all regions for the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018. There were no reports of EVM malfunctioning and the polling has been peaceful so far with no untoward incident reported.

Long queues were seen in several voting booths as people started early to cast their votes. Incumbent MLA of Bhatkal, Mankal Subba Vaidya who is contesting on a Congress ticket, cast his vote early in the morning at a polling booth in Murdeshwar at around 8.45 AM. His main opponent, Sunil Naik, who is contesting on a BJP ticket had earlier cast his vote at 7:45 AM in Shirali.

In the whole Uttar Kannada district, 7.73 percent voting was recorded in the first two hours.

The elections are being considered vital in setting the tone for the next year's Lok Sabha elections.