In Karnataka, Congress-JDS Heading For Big Defeat, Predicts Poll Of Polls

The pattern of the Congress crashing out in states it won in the assembly elections has continued in Karnataka, exit polls predicted today. The party, which managed to keep the BJP out of power in the state with a deft alliance with HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular last May, has failed to stem the tide of BJP's popularity. An aggregate of 13 exit polls show that of the 28 seats in Karnataka, the alliance would win only nine seats, compared to the BJP's 19.

The maximum outer limit predicted for the BJP is 25 seats in a poll by Aak Tak-Axis My India; a minimum of 15 by ABP News-Nielson.

Exit polls, though, do not always get it right.

While the Congress or Mr Kumaraswamy is yet to respond to the figures, the Chief Minister's Andhra Pradesh counterpart, Chandrababu Naidu, tweeted: "Time and again exit polls have failed to catch the People's pulse. Exit polls have proved to be incorrect and far from ground reality in many instances. While undoubtedly TDP govt will be formed in AP, we are confident that non-BJP parties will form a non-BJP govt at the center."

In 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 17 seats, the Congress nine and the Janata Dal Secular two seats.

In last year's assembly elections, the BJP had emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats. The Congress and the JDS had 118 seats, which includes one of Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. The majority mark in the Karnataka assembly is at 113.

An alliance formed even as the counting was on, saw Mr Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister. Converting his oath ceremony to an informal meet of the opposition, Mr Kumaraswamy had made the first attempt to get the disparate parties under a single umbrella to take on the BJP in the national election.

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