- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
The southern Indian state of Karnataka is headed for a hung assembly as five exit polls have predicted. While three have predicted an outright victory for the opposition Indian National Congress and one for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The elections were held on Wednesday (10) with around 66.46 per cent voter turnout.
Those exit polls that have predicted a hung assembly have also indicated that the Janata Dal (Secular), one of the three big players in the state’s politics, is likely to play the role of kingmaker.
The assembly in Karnataka, the only state that prime minister Narendra Modi’s BJP rules in south India, has 224 seats and a party/alliance needs to secure 113 seats to attain majority.
Three exit polls, namely, India Today-Axis My India, News 24-Today’s Chanakya and Times Now-ETG have predicted the possibility of an outright victory for the Congress. India TV-CNX and Zee News-Matrize have also given an upper limit to the grand-old party exceeding the magic figure.
News Nation-CGS has predicted a victory for the BJP while Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat forecast an upper limit of 117 for the saffron party.
The prediction by News Nation-CGS has suggested that the BJP will cross the majority mark with 114 seats while the Congress will end up with 86 and the Janata Dal (Secular) with 21.
The prediction by Suvarna News-Jan Ki Baat has also predicted an edge for the BJP. According to it, the saffron party will emerge as the single largest party with a tally between 94 and 117 seats. The Congress, on the other hand, will get between 91-106 seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) between 14 and 24 seats.
India Today-Axis My India has predicted the Congress to win 122 to 140 seats and the BJP between 62-80 seats.
The prediction by News 24-Today’s Chanakya has given 120 seats to the Congress and 92 to the BJP. The Janata Dal (Secular), it suggested, will get 12 seats.
Times Now-ETG has predicted that the Congress will barely touch the majority mark. It has predicted that the party will win 113 seats and the BJP 85. Twenty-three seats will go to the Janata Dal (Secular), it has projected.
The TV 9-Bharatvansh-Polstrat’s exit poll predicted 99-109 seats for the Congress, 88-98 seats for the BJP and 21-26 seats for the Janata Dal (Secular).
The Zee News Matrize exit poll has made a forecast of 103-118 seats for the Congress, 79-94 seats for the BJP and 25-33 seats for the Janata Dal (Secular).
ABP News-C Voter has predicted the Congress to win 100 to 112 seats, the BJP to win between 83 and 95 seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) between 21 and 29 seats.
Exit poll forecasts, however, can always go wrong as it has been seen in case of elections in India on several occasions.
The result of the elections will be announced on Saturday (13).
