All eyes will be on Karnataka tomorrow as result for the recently concluded assembly polls will be out. The fate of over 2,600 candidates will be decided. The election was a three-cornered contest between the ruling Congress, the opposition BJP and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s JD(S). Polling for the 222 of the 224 seats was held on 12th of this month. The exit polls have predicted hung assembly with indication that JD(S) may emerge as king maker. Six of eight pollsters give BJP the edge while three put Congress ahead. Only three agencies predict a clear majority.
India Today-Axis My India’s upper limit (106-118) gives Congress the simple majority in 224-seat House while Republic TV-Jan ki Baat (95-114) and Today’s Chanakya (120) see BJP coming to power on its own. In all these scenarios, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) is the power broker in a divided House with around 30 seats. Analysts say the Karnataka poll does not hold much significance as far as the political stability is concerned, given that the BJP rules 21 out of 29 states and the state only accounts for 28 seats in Lok Sabha and 12 in Rajya Sabha. The bigger question is if the BJP’s experiment with rural voters like the announcement of farm loan waiver has paid off in a busy election season ahead. Also result will test whether magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still holding strong or Congress President Rahul Gandhi will emerge as alternative to Mr Modi.