Karnataka is headed for a hung assembly, seven out of 10 exit polls have predicted. Two have predicted an outright victory for the Congress and one for the BJP. Those expecting a hung House also indicated that HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular could play the role of kingmaker.
The majority mark is 113 in the 224-seat assembly.
Two exit polls – India Today-Axis My India and Times-Now ETG – have predicted a straight victory for the Congress. India TV-CNX and Zee News-Matrix give Congress an upper limit of over 113. News Nation-CGS has predicted a BJP victory, and Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat has predicted an upper limit of 117 for the BJP.
Exit polls are not always correct.
News Nation-CGS has predicted that the state’s ruling BJP will cross the majority mark with 114 seats, Congress will win 86 seats and JD(S) 21 seats.
Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat has also given the edge to the BJP, predicting that it will emerge as the single largest party with anything between 94 and 117 seats. Congress said, it will get 91-106 seats and JD(S) 14-24 seats.
Five other exit polls are counting on a Congress victory or poll position as the single largest party.
India Today-Axis My India expects the Congress to get 122 to 140 seats and the BJP 62-80.
Times Now-ETG is predicting that the Congress will touch the majority mark – barely. It predicts that the party will win 113 seats and the BJP will get 85 seats. Janata Dal Secular will get 23 seats, he has predicted.
News24-Today’s Chanakya has predicted 120 seats (plus/minus 11 seats) for the Congress and 92 (plus/minus 11 seats) for the BJP. JD(S) said, it will get 12 (plus/minus 7) seats.
Republic TV-P Mark predicts that BJP will win 85-100 seats out of 224 assembly seats, Congress 94-108 and JD(S) 24-32.
TV9-Bharatvansh-Polstrat predicted 88-98 seats for the BJP, 99-109 for the Congress and 21-26 for the JD(S).
Zee News Matrise has predicted 79-94 seats for BJP and 103-118 seats for Congress and 25-33 seats for JD(S).
ABP News-C Voter is expecting 83-95 seats for BJP and 100 to 112 seats for Congress. JD(S) is expected to win between 21 to 29 seats.
India TV-CNX is also giving Congress a lead of 110 to 120 seats and BJP a lead of 80 to 90 seats. The JD(S) had predicted that it would get 21 to 29 seats.
The triangular contest for Karnataka came to an end this evening. The counting of votes will take place on Saturday.
The Congress and HD Kumaraswamy forged a partnership in 2018 to keep the BJP out of power. The coalition government lasted a little over a year before it collapsed as MLAs from both the parties joined the BJP in a so-called Operation Lotus. Their previous alliance in 2004 had also broken.
This time both the parties have ruled out the possibility of an alliance.
In 2006, Mr. Kumaraswamy forged an alliance with the BJP, but the government lasted less than a year before President’s Rule was declared in the state.
The government had collapsed after Mr Kumaraswamy, who was the chief minister, refused to hand over the top post to BS Yediyurappa, who was his deputy. To retaliate, the BJP withdrew support to the Kumaraswamy government, reducing it to a minority.