Rediff.com correspondent reports: It is expected that at 7 pm, once voting is over in Karnataka, Pawan Kumar Bansal may step down as railway minister in the wake of his nephew's arrest for allegedly taking a bribe to fix plum position in the Railway Board

An unconfirmed report says that Finance Minister P Chidambaram may be given additional charge of Railways.

A meeting of the Congress core group is currently underway to discuss the bribery scam.