Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shows a thumbs up as his party is close to crossing the halfway mark in initial trends in Karnataka on Saturday. He took a halt at King’s Coffee Shop before visiting the counting centre in Mysuru. Other senior Congress leader Kamal Nath also said, "Congress will certainly form the next government in Karnataka.” Meanwhile, after the initial trends, Congress workers broke into dance at the party office in Delhi.
In a video shared by news agency PTI, Congress leader Kamal Nath also said the party is certainly going to form the next government in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress Chief D K Shivakumar has won the Kanakapura seat in Karnataka. Earlier, he was leading by over 20,500 votes against JD(S) leader B Nagaraju and BJP leader and Minister R Ashoka.
Notably, the Congress Legislature Party meeting is slated to happen on Sunday as the party expects to form a government in Karnataka, sources told ABP News. The party has booked a resort in Hyderabad.
According to sources, Plan A is if Congress gets a clear majority, a new government will be formed as soon as possible. Under Plan B if there is no clear majority, MLAs will be taken to Hyderabad.
This comes as poll trends show the Congress as returning to power with a clear majority as it is leading on 117 seats, followed by the BJP on 76 seats, JD(S) on 25, and Others on 6.
The electoral fortunes of top leaders -- Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP, Congress heavyweights Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, and JD(S)' HD Kumaraswamy, among many others will be known today.
Karnataka registered a "record" turnout of 73.19 per cent in the voting on May 10, to elect representatives to the 224-member Assembly.
With most exit polls predicting a tight contest between the Congress and BJP, leaders of the two parties seem "jittery" over the outcome, while the JD(S) appears to be expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation.
Most pollsters have given an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while also indicating the possibility of a hung Assembly in the state.
Having banked on the Modi juggernaut, the ruling BJP is looking to break a 38-year-old poll jinx where the people have never voted the incumbent party to power, while the Congress is hoping for a morale booster victory to give it a much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
It also remains to be seen whether former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) will emerge as a "kingmaker" or a "king" by holding the key to government formation, in the event of a hung verdict, as it has done in the past.
Like it has been the trend for about the last two decades, Karnataka witnessed a three-cornered contest, with a direct fight between the said parties in most of the constituencies.