A policeman helps a voter at a polling booth in Bangalore yesterday.
Bangalore: The BJP’s maiden rule of Karnataka is set to end as the party is headed for a massive defeat in the assembly election held yesterday, predicted the exit polls telecast by various TV channels at the end of voting.
The polls, however, differed on whether the Congress would get a clear majority with some giving it a low of 100, which is 13 short of the majority mark of 113 in the 225-member assembly, and a high of 120. The CNN-IBN exit poll gives the BJP 43-53, against the pre-poll survey’s 39-49.
While all placed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the second place with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) following, CNN-IBN forecast a possible tie between the two for the second spot. The Karnataka Janata Party headed by BJP’s first chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, was expected to get between 5 and 13 seats while the third major political force in the state, the JD-S was predicted to bag between 30 and 50 seats.
The exit poll by CNN-IBN has, while giving the Congress victory, revised its estimates of its seat tally to get 100-116 seats following the change in the political scenario of the state in last two weeks. The earlier pre-poll survey, conducted along with The Week, in the second week of April had given the party 117-129 seats.
The poll attributed the drop to faulty choice of candidates leading to unhappiness within the party and open and subtle opposition to the official nominee, infighting between prominent party leaders of the Congress and absence of a well orchestrated and coordinated campaign, among other reasons.
The BJP’s projected debacle is in contrast to its 2008 victory when it had formed the first government in a south India. It would be paying the price for intense in-fighting with former chief minister Yeddyurappa, who led it to victory in 2008, leaving the party and contesting elections from his own Karnataka Janata Party (KJP).
The BJP had won 110 seats in the 2008 poll, cross the majority mark of 113 with the support of five Independents and formed the government. The Congress had secured 80 seats.
Earlier, the state witnessed a heavy voter turnout in the 14th legislative assembly elections, with 70 percent polling across the state that will determine the fate of the ruling BJP and its rival Congress, which is looking to stage a comeback after a gap of seven years.
Counting will take place on Wednesday (May 8) in 36 centres across the state and all the results will be declared by evening.
“The overall voting percentage is 70.23 across the state. Polling was by and large peaceful barring stray incidents. There was heavy turnout in 26 of the 30 districts, with highest (77.95 percent) in Bangalore Rural and lowest in Bangalore Urban (52.83 percent),” Karnataka chief electoral officer Anil Kumar Jha said. The polling percentage across the state in the 2008 assembly elections was 64.91.
With no reports of voting being held up or cancelled from any constituency, Jha said re-polling was unlikely. A final decision, however, will be taken today after scrutinising diaries of all the presiding officers. “Re-polling is less likely. Rural electorate voted more than the urban population, with 52 percent of Bangalore electorate casting their ballot by 5pm, which is five percent more than 47 percent registered in the 2008 assembly election,” Jha asserted.
Districts that recorded below 60 percent voting besides Bangalore Urban (52.83 percent) are in the backward Hyderabad-Karnataka region: Bidar 54.98 percent, Gulbarga 59.83 percent and Yadgir 58.88 percent
Polling was held for 223 of the 224 elected constituencies, as election from the Periyapatna segment in Mysore district was countermanded, following the death of ruling BJP candidate Sannamoge Gowda April 29. Polling in Periyapatna has been rescheduled for May 28 and counting on May 30.
One seat in the state assembly is reserved for a nominated member from the Anglo-Indian community. In all, 52,034 polling booths were set up across the 223 assembly segments, with 10,103 of them declared hyper-sensitive and 14,209 sensitive.
Of the state’s 61.13 million population, 43.6 million are registered voters, comprising 22.22 million men and 21.35 million women. First-time voters in the age group of 18-22 years are 3.55 million.
As the state capital, Bangalore has the largest number of voters — 7.03 million of a total population of 10 million — and the highest number of assembly segments at 28. Among the eligible voters, 534,548 are first-timers, as they enrolled for this election since January. About 253,000 officials from state and central governments and state-run organisations were on poll duty, with 48,182 police personnel outside booths and about 100,000 additional forces deployed around booths to maintain law and order.
About 2,000 flying squads comprising five members each, including a photographer and a video-grapher were deployed to record the proceedings and ensure free and fair voting.
The total number of candidates in the fray was 2,948, including 170 women candidates. Major political parties such as the ruling BJP, the Congress, the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the newly-formed Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), a party of the BJP rebels led by its first chief minister in the southern state B S Yeddyurappa contested in all the 223 constituencies across the state. IANS
