Nirmala Sitharaman, Narayana Murthy, Rahul Dravid among early voters in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, software industry icon N R Narayana Murthy, his wife and Rajya Sabha member Sudha Murty, former cricketer Rahul Dravid and actor Prakash Raj were among the early voters as polling began in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka on Friday.

Many booths reported brisk voting in the first hour of polling as people sought to "beat the heat".

Speaking to PTI Videos, Prakash Raj said he voted for the candidate that he has faith in and "for the issues mentioned in the manifesto of the parties."

"I have voted against the hate and people who are dividing the country. I have voted for a good representative from my constituency," he said.

Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

A total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the first phase in 14 segments covering most of the southern and coastal districts, where more than 2.88 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations.