Karnataka Elections Exit Poll Results: Congress to rule the roost, BJP close second; JDS to play kingmaker

The Congress is expected to return to power with a seat tally close to the halfway mark, the Zee News-Matrize Exit Poll has predicted. The BJP will be close second, ensuring the Janata Dal Secular will again prove to be the kingmaker.

The exit poll predicted the BJP's vote share will be 36 percent, not enough to form even a simple majority government. The Congress is likely to bag 41 percent votes, ending up as the single largest party. With 17 percent votes, Janata Dal Secular's political inclination will prove decisive for government formation.

The exit poll predicts between 79-94 seats for the BJP, 103-118 seats for the Congress, 25-33 seats for the JDS and 2-5 seats for others.

The P-Marq-Republic poll predicts a hung assembly. According to the poll, the BJP will win 85-100 seats, the Congress 94-108 seats, JDS 24-32 seats.

The Navbharat-C Voter exit poll has predicted 78-92 seats for the BJP, 106-120 seats for the Congress and 20-26 seats for JDS.

Most of the exit polls concur on the point that the Congress will emerge as the single largest party. The BJP appears to be following the Congress closely. The upper limit for the JDS is 33 seats -- enough to become political bedfellows with the party in power.

In 2018, the BJP was the single largest party with 104 seats, followed by Congress with 80 seats and JDS with 37. The BJP formed a minority government but failed to pass the floor test.

The Congress and JDS later stitched a post-poll alliance and ruled for 14 months before a ginger group of 17 MLAs broke away and toppled the government. The BJP later won 12 of the 15 seats that went to polls.

In the outgoing Assembly, the ruling BJP has 116 MLAs, followed by the Congress 69, JD(S) 29, BSP one, independents two, speaker one and vacant six (following deaths and resignations to join other parties ahead of the polls).

Since 1985, no party has formed successive governments in Karnataka -- a trend the BJP hopes to end. The Congress aims to win the Karnataka elections to give a fillip to its campaign for the 2024 general elections.