Vote-Counting Today As BJP Looks To Break Karnataka Jinx: 10 Points

1. Seven out of 10 exit polls have showed Karnataka is heading for a hung assembly. Two have predicted an outright victory for the Congress and one for the BJP. Those expecting a hung house also indicated that HD Kumaraswamy's JD(S) is likely to play the kingmaker. Health warning: exit polls often get it wrong.
2. The electoral fortunes of top leaders - Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP, Congress veterans Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, and Mr Kumaraswamy will be known today.
3. Votes will be counted from 8 am in 36 centres across Karnataka. A clear picture about the outcome is likely to emerge by midday.
4. Having depended on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign, the ruling BJP is looking to break a 38-year trend where the ruling party has never returned to power for a second consecutive term.
5. 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.
6. Karnataka saw a three-cornered contest, with a direct fight 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.
7. All the three parties have expressed confidence they will form government with absolute majority. The majority mark in the 224-seat assembly stands at 113 seats.
8. There was speculation the parties have been engaging in backchannel talks for possibly forming an alliance in the event of a hung house. The Congress, however, denied it reached out to Mr Kumaraswamy's JD(S).
9. In 2018, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party but fell short of a majority. The Congress and the JD(S) formed a coalition government, which crashed 14 months later after mass defections to the BJP.
10. In the outgoing assembly, the ruling BJP has 116 MLAs, followed by the Congress with 69, JD(S) 29, Bahujan Samaj Party one, two independents, the Speaker and six vacant seats due to deaths and resignations to join other parties ahead of the election.

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