Karnataka assembly elections 2018: With 90-103 seats, Congress likely to be single largest party, claims Times Now-VMR exit poll

The Times Now-VMR exit poll claims that the ruling Congress is likely to secure 90-103 seats in the 224-member state assembly, with the BJP coming close second by winning between 80-93 seats.

NEW DELHI: It will be a close contest between Congress and BJP in the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 with no party winning a clear majority, according to the Times Now-VMR exit poll.

The Times Now-VMR exit poll claims that the ruling Congress is likely to win 90-103 seats in the 224-member state assembly, with the BJP coming close to the second spot by winning between 80-93 seats.

The JD(S)-BSP combine will finish third with 31-39 seats while other parties in the fray will get 2-4 seats.

Times Now-VMR exit poll data also suggest a remarkable improvement in BJP's overall tally, with around 87 seats – a little more than double the 40 seats it secured in the 2013 assembly polls. 

On the other hand, the Congress party's seat share will slide down to around 96 seats from its current 122-member strength in the Vidhan Soudha. 

No party will reach the halfway mark of 113 seats required for a simple majority, it claimed.

Polling was held today for 222 seats in the 225-seat Karnataka assembly. Voting takes place for 224 seats. One is nominated from Anglo Indian community

The high-stakes battle for the Karnataka Assembly ended on Saturday evening, with over 35 million voting in an election crucial for the ruling Congress as well as the BJP and the JD-S.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he was "very very confident" that the Congress would retain power in the only major southern state it now rules even as officials said about 70 percent of the over 5.06 crore electorate had voted till 6 pm.

Voting was peaceful by and large barring a few incidents of some non-functional EVMs, missing voter names and procedural delays, a poll panel official said.

All three main contenders for power - Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) - claimed they would win hands down.

Voting in Chikkaballapur and Ramanagara districts witnessed a record 76 percent polling, while the average polling across Bengaluru was 48 percent till 5.30 pm.

The BJP's Chief Ministerial face BS Yeddyurappa was among the first to vote at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district. He has claimed that the BJP will secure 140-150 seats and that he will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing in.

Siddaramaiah ridiculed him after voting on Saturday, saying the BJP leader was "mentally disturbed" and that the Congress was sure of bagging more than 120 seats.

JD-S chief and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, his wife Chennamma and second son HD Revanna cast their votes in their hometown Holenarsipura in Hassan district.

Polling in Bengaluru's Raja Rajeshwari Nagar segment has been postponed to May 28 following the discovery of voter ID cards and deferred in the city's Jayanagar seat following the death of BJP contestant BN Vijaya Kumar.

In all, voting was conducted in 26 of the 28 constituencies in the city.

Karnataka has over 5.06 crore electorate, including 2.6 crore men and 2.5 crore women. A total of 15.42 lakh voters, aged 18-19, have registered for the first time.

The highest number of voters (6.03 lakh) are in Bengaluru South and the lowest (1.7 lakh) at Sringeri in Chikkamagaluru district.

Polling was held in 58,008 stations in 30 districts, with 600 of them dubbed 'pink booths', overseen by women personnel. Over 1.5 lakh security personnel were deployed.

The vote count will take place on May 15.

In all, 2,654 candidates are in the fray, including 219 women. A total of 222 are from the Congress and BJP each, 201 from JD-S, 1,155 Independents and 800 from other national, regional and fringe parties. About 450 contestants are in the battle from Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah is contesting from Chamundeshwari at Mysuru and Badami in Bagalkot district.

BJP's Lok Sabha member from Ballari B.R. Sriramaulu, contesting from two seats including Badami and Molakamuru (reserved) seat in Chitradurga district, on Saturday worshipped a cow and visited temples before voting.

JD-S state president and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is in the fray from Ramanagara and Channapatna seats in the old Mysuru region. Yeddyurappa is contesting from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district in Malnad region.

Siddaramaiah has fielded his son Yatindra from his hometown Varuna in Mysuru district.