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 grand old party.
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.
Matrize predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 103-118 seats in the 224-member assembly and gave the BJP 79-94 seats. It gave 25-33 seats to the JD(S), the third major player in the race.
P-Marq also forecast an edge for the Congress with 94-108 seats as against 85-100 seats for the BJP and 24-32 for the JD(S).
While the Jan Ki Baat exit poll predicted that the Congress would get 91-106 seats, BJP 94-117, JD(S) 14-24, the Pollstart forecast that the Congress will get 99-109 seats, the BJP 88-98 and JD(S) 21-26.
CGS exit polls gave the BJP 114 seats and Congress 86. They predicted 21 seats for the JD (S).
The C-Voter exit poll stated that the Congress is likely to get 100-113 seats, the BJP 83-95 and the JD(S) 21-29.
ETG poll said the BJP would get 85 seats, the Congress 113 and the JD(S) 23.
Reacting to the predictions, the Congress tweeted, “As the exit polls roll in, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Congress party is on track for a resounding victory.”
It tagged screenshots of exit polls by India Today-Axis My India and News 24-Today’s Chanakya, both of which predicted a clear majority for the Congress.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, 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. There was one independent member, while BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janata Party (KPJP) had one legislator each.
With no party having a clear majority and as the Congress and JD(S) were trying to forge an alliance, B S Yediyurappa of BJP staked a claim and formed the government. However, it had to resign within three days ahead of the trust vote, unable to muster the required numbers.
Subsequently, the Congress-JD(S) alliance formed the government with Kumaraswamy as CM, but the wobbly dispensation collapsed in 14 months as 17 legislators resigned and came out of the ruling coalition and defected to the BJP, facilitating it to come back to power.
In the by-polls held subsequently in 2019, the ruling party won 12 out of 15 seats.
In the outgoing Assembly, BJP has 116 MLAs, followed by the Congress at 69, and JD(S) at 29.
