Comments
Karnataka assembly elections exit poll results predict a hung assembly in the State again with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress being close contenders and regional party Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) remaining the king-maker.
Exit poll predictions by a majority of organisations hint at an edge for Congress, but BJP too is expected to come close in the race. Republic TV-P MARQ exit polls predict 85-100 for BJP, 94-108 seats for Congress, and 24-32 seats for JDS, with the possibility of playing an important linking role.
Also read: Minor incidents of violence, EVM destruction, protests mar Karnataka polling
Further, 2-6 seats could be secured by Others. The India Today-Axis poll gave a clear majority to the Congress with the party expected to get between 122-140 seats, BJP 62-80 seats and JDS at 20-25 seats
On similar lines, Zee Matrize exit polls indicate that BJP could win 79-94 seats, Congress could win 103-118 seats and JDS could secure 25-33 seats and Others will bag 2-5 seats. Jan Ki Baat Suvarna News poll predicts 94-117 seats for BJP, 91-106 seats for Congress, 14-24 for JDS, and 0-2 for others.
‘No alliance’
This wouldn’t be the first time for the state to have a hung assembly. The 2018 elections too resulted in a divided mandate with BJP being the single largest party with 104 seats, Congress having 80, and JDS winning 37. JDS had acted as king-maker and made a coalition with Congress.
However this time, Congress leader in Karnataka D.K Shivakumar has ruled out the possibility of coaliting with JDS in case of a non-majority. “There is no chance of an alliance with JD(S),” he said. The leader is confident of getting a majority by winning 141 seats.
BJP leader and the current Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has called the exit polls “inaccurate” and results on May 13 should be awaited. He said, “Exit polls are predicting a close finish. But as per the information we received from the ground, it is clear that we are going to get a clear majority. The real poll results will be announced on May 13, I think everybody should wait until then.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.