Karnataka election results: Congress surges ahead of BJP in early leads

The Congress was leading in 99 seats, the BJP was ahead in 83 and the Janata Dal (Secular) in 23.

May 13, 2023 - 09:30

As the counting of the votes for the Karnataka Assembly elections began at 8 am on Saturday, initial trends showed the Bharatiya Janata Party trailing the Congress, NDTV reported. As per the latest leads, the Congress was leading in 99 seats, the BJP was ahead in 83 and the Janata Dal (Secular) in 23.
The polling for 224 seats took place on Wednesday. The majority mark in the Karnataka Assembly is 113. The southern state registered a voter turnout of 73.19% – the highest since 1957. The BJP contested in all 224 constituencies, the Congress in 223, and the JD(S) in 209.
In the previous Assembly elections held in 2018, the BJP emerged as a single-largest outfit with 104 seats but fell short of the halfway mark of 111 seats. BJP’s BS Yediyurappa took oath as the chief minister but resigned before a trust vote on May 23. A coalition government led by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy and supported by the Congress then ruled the state for 14 months. In July 2019, the government collapsed after several MLAs from the two coalition parties switched over to the BJP. Yediyurappa then took oath again as the chief minister but resigned on July 26, 2021. BJP’s Bommai has been the...
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