Karnataka Exit polls forecast hung house, Cong seen as largest party; JD(S) in ‘kingmaker’ role

New Delhi: The single-phase polling for Karnataka Assembly Elections is over and the countdown for results has begun. Though the final results will be announced on May 13, the slew of Exit polls give a fair hint of what to expect on the counting day.

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Out of couple of Exit polls, Karnataka is projected to have a hung Assembly.

Out of couple of Exit polls, Karnataka is projected to have a hung Assembly.

At least 5 exit polls have predicted the possibility of a hung house, with Kumaraswamy-led JD(S) again in kingmaker role. They haven’t given clear majority to any party, though Congress is clearly ahead in the poll race.

The magic number in the 224-seat assembly stands at 113 seats.

Three exit polls are predicting clear majority for the Congress. Zee News-Matrize exit poll predicts 118 seats for Congress while two others project Congress to fetch figures of 114-117 seats.

NewsNation-CGS is the only exit poll giving clear lead to BJP in the polls. NewsNation-CGS survey predicts 114 seats for BJP and 86 seats for Congress.

Republic TV-P MARQ predicts that the ruling BJP will bag about 85-100 seats while Congress will win 94-108 and JD(S) will settle at 24-32 seats.

TV 9-Bharatvansh-Polstrat has predicted 88-98 seats for BJP, 99-109 seats for Congress & 21-26 seats for JD(S).

Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat is another agency to give majority to BJP. It predicts victory for BJP and sees party claiming victory over more than 115 seats while Congress is projected to bag 91-106 seats & JD(S) 14-24 seats.

Earlier:

BJP is aiming to rewrite the history by retaining power in its only Southern bastion while Congress is hoping to stage a strong comeback & dislodging the Bommai government from power.

Karnataka has a tradition of alternating between two parties and in last couple of decades, hasn’t given mandate to the ruling party to stay in power for 2nd time.

As BJP, Congress & JD(S) slug it out in the three-cornered contest, here are the Exit polls forecast – as to which party will rule & which will sit in Opposition and also if there will be any ‘kingmaker’.

Vote share of parties in 2018 Assembly polls

BJP – 36.43
Congress – 38.61
JD(S) – 18.3