Karnataka poll: Siddarmaiah confident of win, Yeddyurappa says will invite PM Modi to attend swearing-in
NEW DELHI The fate of 2,636 candidates will be decided in high-stakes single-phase Karnataka assembly polls for 222 constituencies, as the people of the state queued up on Saturday (12.05.2018) to vote for their favourite candidates. Till 2 pm, about 38 per cent was recorded in the state that has seen bitter high-decibel campaigning by BJP and Congress party.
The results of the elections would be announced on Tuesday (15.05.2018).
Karnataka election has been billed as the quarterfinal before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with huge stakes for both BJP and Congress. The ruling Congress and the BJP are the main contenders for power, while former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s JD(S) is likely to play the kingmaker, according to most surveys and opinion polls.
The Congress is aiming at retaining the only large state it rules after Punjab, while the BJP is striving to form its government in Karnataka, which party president Amit Shah said will be its “gateway to south”, for the second time.
Elections were postponed in south Bengaluru’s Jayanagar after the BJP candidate died and in the city’s RR Nagar after thousands of voter identity cards were found in an apartment.
Media reports said during the initial hours of voting, there were reports of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) malfunctioning in some booths; power crisis in a polling station in Rajajinagar seat; voters names were missing from few booths.
The leaders of Congress, BJP and Janata Dal (Secular)—the state’s three leading parties—said they were confident of victory.
Amidst the polling for Karnataka Assembly, Chief Minister Siddarmaiah expressed confidence that Congress would again form the government in the state with a clear majority. He said Congress would get clear majority there was no doubt on this, “We are very-very confident that Congress will come back to power with clear majority.” He said Congress would win more than 120 seats.
Responding to BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa’s statement that he would form government in the state on May 17, Siddaramaiah quipped, “He’s mentally disturbed now.”
BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa on Saturday rejected any doubt of his chances of victory in the elections and said he would invite Prime Minister Modi to attend his government’s swearing-in ceremony.
Yeddyurappa had rebelled and parted with the BJP in 2013, forming a breakaway party Karnataka Janata Party, but he came back in 2014; he is still the most popular face in the BJP. However, he hadn’t been able to get even his son Vijayendra and close aides such as Shobha Karandlaje tickets to contest elections.