Srinagar, May 13 (KNS): The Congress has crossed the halfway mark in early leads as votes are being counted for the Karnataka election today. The ruling BJP is leading on 79 seats and HD Kumaraswamy's JD(S) is ahead in over 25 seats, reports said.
Votes for the 224 assembly seats of Karnataka, where elections were held on Thursday, are being counted across 36 centres. In the early trends the Congress is ahead in 115 seats, 2 seats ahead of the 113 halfway mark.
Banking on a high-powered campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP is looking to break a 38-year trend where the ruling party has never returned to power for a second consecutive term.
The Congress, believing in the very same jinx that the BJP wants to break, is hoping for a morale-booster to give it the much-needed plank on which it will position itself as the main opposition party ahead of the national election next year.
As per reports the Congress has asked all its MLAs to reach Bengaluru as leads placed it across the halfway mark. Congress's Siddaramaiah said he is sure of the party crossing the 120 mark.
Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai has said he is confident of a BJP victory. The Congress, he claimed, is trying to reach out to other parties because it does not have confidence in its legislators.
JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy has said he is not in touch with any party, though leaders of his Janata Dal Secular have claimed that both Congress and the BJP have been in touch with them after exit polls predicted a hung assembly. "I am a small party, there is no demand for me...I am hoping for a good development," he said.
Karnataka saw a three-cornered contest, with a contest between the BJP, Congress and the JD(S) in most of the constituencies. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, had also fielded some candidates. So has Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party.
In the 2018 elections, the BJP had won 104 seats, the Congress 80 and the JDS 37. The BJP's BS Yediyurappa formed government but resigned before a majority test. Then, the Congress and the JDS formed a coalition government.
The coalition government lasted 14 months after which 16 MLAs switched to the BJP, toppling the government and bringing the BJP back in power. (KNS)