A revival for Congress after all?

Army jawans help an elderly woman on a wheelchair to cast her vote, in Bengaluru. Pic/PTI

Exit polls on Wednesday predicted a tight contest between the Congress and the BJP in the high-stakes Karnataka Assembly polls with most pollsters giving an edge to the former. The Congress is pinning its hopes on Karnataka, believing a victory here would help it bounce back after the recent electoral losses.

India Today-Axis My India predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 122-140 seats in the 224-member assembly and gave the BJP 62-80 seats. It gave 20-25 seats to the JD (S), the third major player in the race. News 24-Today's Chanakya also forecast a majority for the Congress with 120 seats as against 92 seats for the BJP and 12 for the JD(S).

The result for the three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) will be announced on Saturday.

While the ABP News-C Voter exit poll predicted that the Congress would get 100-112 seats, BJP 83-95, JD(S) 21-29, the Republic TV-P MARQ forecast that the Congress will get 94-108 seats, the BJP 85-100 and JD(S) 24-32.

The India TV-CNX exit polls gave the Congress 110-120 seats and the BJP 80-90 seats. They predicted 20-24 seats for the JD (S). The TV9 Bharatvarsh-Polstrat exit poll stated that the Congress is likely to get 99-109 seats, the BJP 88-98 and the JD(S) 21-26 while the Zee News-Matrize Agency predicted that the Congress would get 103-118, the BJP 79-94 and the JD(S) 25-33.

Also Read: Karnataka CM rejects exit poll results giving Congress edge over BJP

The News Nation-CGS poll said the BJP would get 114 seats, the Congress 86 and the JD(S) 21. The Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat forecast that the BJP was likely to win 94-117, Congress 91-106 and the JD(S) 14-24. Times Now-ETG exit polls gave 113 seats to the Congress and 85 to the BJP. It predicted 23 seats for JD (S).
In the 2018 polls, BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats out of total 224, followed by the Congress at 80 and JD(S) at 37. In the outgoing Assembly, BJP has 116 MLAs, followed by Congress at 69, and JD(S) at 29.

The single-phase election on Wednesday saw a turnout of nearly 70 per cent of voters, in a process that was "largely peaceful". The results of the election will be announced on May 13.

13 May
Day the results will be out

‘Fund crunch to cost JD(S) 25 winnable seats'

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said that his party is expected to take a "hit" in up to 25 Assembly segments, including Chikkaballapura and Doddaballapura, where it had chances of winning, due to financial crunch, in the Karnataka elections held on Wednesday. Despite financial constraints, his party will be ahead of Congress and BJP in terms of winning the number of seats, the former CM claimed. "What has pained me is that I have not been able to financially support several of my candidates. My expectation was that I might get public support in terms of funds," he said.

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