Congress leads in Karnataka, may manage majority

The ruling BJP – hit by factionalism and rebellion within its ranks - was staring at a dismal show.

By Indo Asian News Service | Yahoo! India News 

BANGALORE: The Congress was set to return to power in Karnataka after a gap of seven years, early trends from counting of votes on Wednesday showed. It was leading in 114 of the 223 assembly seats for which the state voted on May 5.

The ruling BJP – hit by factionalism and rebellion within its ranks - was staring at a dismal show, with its lead limited to 36 seats, sharply down from the 110 seats it won in the last election in the state.

Trends for the four-cornered contest available at 10.30 am on Wednesday pointed to the Janata Dal (Secular), led by HD Kumaraswamy -- son former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, winning 42 seats, a tally that could make it the second largest party in the new assembly.

Karnataka Janatha Paksha of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa was leading in 13 constituencies, dealing a severe blow to the BJP from which he had broken away and floated his own outfit. Other including Independent were leading in 18 seats.

That would mean the JD (S) pushing BJP from the opposition bench if Congress manages to reach the 113-mark on its own, or with the help of independents.

The BJP has yielded ground to Congress in areas where it had drawn much of its electoral strength in the 2008 polls in Hyderabad-Karnataka and Bombay-Karnataka regions, as also surprisingly to JD-S.

Congress tasted first win in Puttur Constituency by its Candidate Shakunathala Shetty,  Abhaya Chandra Jain (Moodabidire), Vasanth Bangera (Belthangady) have won.

This shows Congress has strong wave in Coastal Karnataka.

Reactions on Karnataka poll resuilt trends

Ravi Shankar Prasad: This accidental fluke victory of the Congress (is) because of the split in BJP votes.

Kapil Sibal:  It looks like the BJP will meet the same fate in the General Elections. They will remain in third place in the general elections as well.

Manish Tewari said: The people of Karnataka have voted. If you really look back, over the manner in which Parliament has been disrupted in the last fortnight it is very evident that the entire charade was orchestrated for the Karnataka elections.

Trends:
Congress: CM candidate Siddaramaiah, TB Jayachandra, DK Shivakumar, Priyank Kharge, Kagodu Timmappa, Ramesh Kumar, Ambarish are leading.

KPCC chief G Parameshwar is trailing.

BJP: CM Jagadish Shetta and DCM R Ashok are leading. DCM KS Eshwarappa is trailing.

JDS: HD KUmaraswamy is leading

KJP: BS Yeddyurappa, CM Udasi is leading.

BSR Congress: Sriramulu leading.


Updates:

# Trends at 10.40: Congress: 111, BJP: 38, JD-S: 45, KJP: 12, Others: 13

# Appaji MJ (JDS) leading in Bhadravati

# Guttiganuru Virupaksha Gouda (BJP) leading in Bellary City

# CT Ravi (BJP) leading in Chikmagalur

# Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath (Independent) leading in Belgaum Rural

# Chimmanakatti Balappa Bhimappa (Congress) leading in Badami

# Balachandra Jarkiholi (BJP) leading in Arabhavi, Laxman Sangappa Savadi (BJP) leading in Athni

# Basavaraj Koujalgi (Congress) leading in Bailhongal

# Ambareesh (Congress) leading in Mandya

# Renukacharya (KJP) trailing in Honnali

# Siddaramaiah (Congress) leading in Varuna

# KS Eshwarappa (BJP) leading in Shimoga

# Karunakara Reddy (BJP) leading in Harapanahalli

# SS Mallikarjuna (Congress) leading in Davanagere North

# Meti Hullappa Yamanappa (Congress) leading in Bagalkot

# Balachandra Jarkiholi (BJP) leading in Arabhavi

# HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) leading in Ramanagaram

# Jagadish Shettar (BJP) leading in Hubli-Dharwad-Central

# Ranjan G. Gowda (BJP) leading in Beltangadi, K. Gopala Poojary (Congress) leading in Byndoor

# B. Sreeramulu (BSRC) leading in Bellary, Appaji.M.J. (JDS) leading in Bhadravati

# BS Yeddyurappa leading in Shikaripura constituency

# Early leads: Cong 3, BJP 2, JDS 3, KJP 0, others 1

# Counting of votes for single phase Karnataka Assembly polls underway at 36 Centres across the state.

# The results will decide the fate of 2,940 candidates in 223 Assembly segments

# Most of the results should be out by noon, according to state election authorities

# Exit polls have widely predicted a Congress victory in Karnataka Assembly elections

# Over 71% of the 40.36 million eligible voters in the state cast their ballots on polling day (Sunday - May 5, 2013 )

# Polling took place for 223 of the 224 elected seats in the 225-member assembly that includes one nominated member

# Any party winning 113 seats will reach the majority mark

# The state electorate had delivered a fractured verdict in 2004 leading two coalition governments -- Congress and JD-S, followed by JD-S and BJP.

# In the 2008 polls, the BJP won only 110 seats and crossed the majority mark of 113 with the support of five Independents.

# Congress, BJP, Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and Karnataka Janatha Paksha (KJP) of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa are the main players in the Karnataks polls.

Elections were held to 223 segments on Sunday, after the one in Periyapatna in Mysore district was countermanded to May 28 following the death of BJP candidate. At 71.29%, the voter turnout was the second highest in the state history, after 71.90% in 1978.

The Congress is not in power in the state for about seven years now.

The then chief minister N Dharam Singh of the Congress ran a coalition with JDS of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda before the latter withdrew support in 2006, after Assembly elections two years earlier threw up a hung verdict.

The Congress came to power on its own the last time around in 1999 when it recorded a landslide victory, with SM Krishna becoming chief minister.

The BJP came to power on its own steam in 2008 on the back of a sympathy wave, after the then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy reneged on the promise to hand over chief ministership to the BJP after leading the coalition for the first 20 months. (With inputs fron HT Correspondent, Agencies)