advertisement
Karnataka Exit Poll Results 2023 Live Updates: After weeks of high-octane campaigning by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular) JD (S) the voters of Karnataka cast their vote on Wednesday, 10 May, to a dismal turnout, with all eyes now on the exit polls.
Several pollsters including Axis My India (India Today), C-Voter (ABP News), Today's Chanakya (News24), Polstrat (NewsX), and P-MARQ (Republic TV) have predicted whether the Basavaraj Bommai-led government will retain the state of the Siddaramaiah-DK Shivakumar duo will sweep the state for the Congress. Around 65.69% voters turned up at the polls till 5 PM.
The final results will be declared on 13 May.
Other political parties in the fray are Janata Dal (United), Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and National People's Party.
The winning party needs at least 113 seats to form a majority government in the state.
Karnataka's total number of voters is 5,21,73,579, out of which 2.62 crores are males and 2.59 crores are females.
9,58,806 voters will be eligible to cast their ballot for the first time.
The number of polling stations across the state is 58,282.
All polling stations will close at 6 pm on Wednesday.
"Congress party will get a comfortable majority...I will win comfortably in Varuna constituency," Congress leader Siddaramaiah said, according to news agency ANI.
"Exit polls are exit polls, it can't be 100% correct. We are going to get a complete majority and form the government. I think we should wait till 13 May," Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The incumbent chief minister is contesting on a BJP ticket from Shiaggon Assembly constituency.
Further dismissing the exit poll predictions, Bommai said, "Exit polls are done in a hurry, and there will be lots of errors. There is no question of anybody becoming the kingmaker. For me, the people are the kingmaker and they will bring BJP back to power."
Here's the breakdown:
While most other pollsters predicted a hung assembly, India Today-Axis My India predicted a clear majority for Congress.
Congress is likely to sweep the Hyderabad-Karnataka region and may win on 32 seats, according to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll prediction.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to thank all the workers for a "well-run, dignified and solid people-oriented campaign."
The Polstrat-TV9 exit poll, following the Karnataka elections, predicted hung assembly, with Congress expected to win around 99 to 109 seats, and the BJP predicted to win 88 to 98 seats.
The Janata Dal (Secular) is expected to bag 21-26 seats, likely to emerge as the kingmaker in the elections.
Here is the breakdown:
Congress - 44% votes
BJP - 38% votes
JD(S) - 5% votes;
Others - 3% votes
14 percent- Impact
62 percent- No Impact
24 percent- Can't say
For the old Mysuru region, ABP-CVOTER predicted that Congress might be slightly ahead:
BJP - 26%
CONG - 38%
JDS - 29%
OTH - 7%
Congress - 3
BJP- 16
JD(S) and Others - 0
ABP-CVOTER's predictions for Greater Bengaluru region are:
BJP: 45%
Congress - 39%
JDS - 13%
OTHERS: 3%
The stakes are high for the ruling BJP and possibly even higher for the Congress and the JD-S.
Why do we say that the stakes are higher for the two Opposition parties?
What are the X-factors that could decide which way this election goes? This story looks at these two aspects.
The final results will only come in on Counting Day, 13 May, but as polling concludes, different pollsters and news channels are releasing their exit poll results starting 6 PM.
Exit polls are usually seen as an indicator of polling trends. Sometimes, they have proven to be in sync with the final results, but on other occasions, they have ended up being inaccurate.
So, how accurate were the exit polls in the previous Karnataka Assembly election, in 2018? Read here.
Around 52.18 percent of the electorate turned up to cast their votes till 3 pm in the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023, according to data by the Election Commission of India.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: 10 May 2023,05:37 PM IST