Bengaluru/New Delhi: A slew of exit polls that were released within hours of polls closing on Saturday predicted a tight race between the two main rivals — BJP and Congress — in the Karnataka Assembly elections with a hung Assembly as most likely, with JD(S) likely to emerge as the possible kingmaker.
Barring Times Now’s Today’s Chanakya poll which gave a clean majority to the BJP, predicting a near sweep by the party with 120 seats, all the other exit polls indicated the possibility of a hung Assembly in the state.
Exit polls by India Today-Axis My India (106-118), India TV-VMR (97) and Suvarna TV (106-118) gave the incumbent Congress government an edge. For the BJP, they predicted 79-92, 87 and 79-92, respectively.
However, exit polls conducted by NewsX-CNX, Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat and ABP News-CVoter said that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party. While Republic TV said BJP would get 104, ABP News-C Voter said the BJP would get 101-113 seats and NewsX-CNX said it would get 102-110 seats. These channels gave the Congress 78, 82-94 and 72-78 seats, respectively.
However, in almost all scenarios, the Janata Dal (Secular) emerges as a possible kingmaker. All polls predicted between 18-40 seats for the party which is fighting the polls in alliance with the BSP.
Times Now-VMR put the likely tally of the JD(S) at 28 while India Today put its figure at 22-30.The exit polls run by Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat and ABP News-CVoter predicted JD (S) will get 37 and 18-31 seats. The Congress has relentlessly attacked the JD(S) as being the BJP’s “B-Team”. The H.D. Deve Gowda-led party alleged the Congress allegation was an effort to wean away its Muslim vote base. Muslims who form nearly 13 per cent of the state’s population are a crucial vote bank for the non-BJP outfits and many experts predicted that the Congress might have managed to swing the Muslim supporters of the JD(S) in its citadel of Old Mysuru region.
Voting took place in 222 seats of the 224 seat aseembly with 112, the halfway mark in the Karnataka Assembly. Elections were not held in two seats.
