The Karnataka polls are projected to be a three-way contest between the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party, biggest rival Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular).
Campaigning for the high-voltage Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 will conclude on Monday. The voters of the state will head to polling booths on Wednesday and results will be announced on Saturday. Meanwhile, different opinion polls have forecast a close contest. The Karnataka polls are expected to be a three-way contest between the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), biggest rival Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular). 113 seats are needed to form a simple majority in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly.
In the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections, 104 seats were won by the BJP while the Congress won 80, the JD-S 37, and three seats went to ‘Others’. Vote share in 2018 elections was 38.04 percent for the Congress, 36.22 per-cent for the BJP, 18.36 percent for the JD-S and 7.38 percent for `Others`.
Opinion polls have suggested varying results with some indicating Congress having higher chances of emerging as the single largest party in Karnataka. As per the India TV-CNX opinion poll, the Congress could win 105 seats, while it gives the ruling BJP 85 seats. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s JD-S is forecast to win 32 seats while ‘Others’ may win two seats. In terms of vote-share, the TV-CNX opinion poll gives Congress 40.32 percent, the BJP 35.5 per cent, the JD-S 17.81 percent, and 6.37 percent to `others`.
The ABP-C-Voter opinion poll also suggests that Congress is ahead and may even form a simple majority government. It gives Congress 110-122 seats, the BJP 73-85 seats, and JD-S 21-29 seats. In terms of vote-share, the opinion poll suggests a 2.2 percent rise for Congress who may get 40.2 percent of the votes. BJP is projected to get the same vote share of 36 percent while JD-S may lose nearly 2 percent of its vote share and end up with 16.1 percent.
The Zee News-Matrize opinion poll gives PM Modi-led BJP the edge and even a chance of forming a majority with 103-118 seats. For the Congress, it projects 82-97 seats with JD-S getting 28-33 seats while ‘Others’ get 1-4 seats. The Zee News opinion poll gives BJP a 6 percent rise in vote share, projected at 42 percent. Congress may get 41 percent with a rise of over 2 percent while it projects JD-S to lose over 4 percent vote share and get 14 percent as 3 percent votes go to ‘Others.
Karnataka voters will cast their votes on May 10 and the counting will be done on May 13 with results to be declared the same day.
(Inputs from agencies)
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 "Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Congress or BJP? Opinion polls indicate...")
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