Bengaluru, Apr 24 (IANS): The countdown has begun for 14 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats as Karnataka goes to polls in the first phase on Friday.

There is hectic activity among political parties as public campaigning will come to an end on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.

The candidates of national parties are busy in door to door campaigning as public campaigning will end in Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Mandya, Mysuru-Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumakuru and Hassan Parliamentary seats.

Once the curtains are down for public campaigning, outsiders, other than voters will have to move out of the constituencies.

The authorities have made all preparations to heighten vigilance in the jurisdiction of 14 Lok Sabha seats.

A total of 358 candidates in Karnataka on April 4 had filed their nominations for 14 Lok Sabha seats. Finally, 247 candidates are remaining in the contest.

Of this, 226 are male candidates and 21 are women candidates.

The Congress party is contesting in all 14 Lok Sabha seats while the BJP has fielded its candidates in 11 and JD(S) has fielded three candidates.

Political heavy weights like DK Suresh brother of Deputy Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar (Bengaluru Rural), former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy (Mandya), Union Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje (Bengaluru North), former Prime Minister, HD Deve Gowda’s son Prajwal Revanna (Hassan), Deve Gowda’s son-in-law Dr. CN Manjunath (Bengaluru Rural), BJP National Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya (Bengaluru South), Yaduveer Wadiyar (Mysuru-Kodagu) and V Somanna (Tumakuru) are the main contenders in the constituencies which go for polls in the first phase.