BENGALURU: The Congress party appeared to be consolidating its lead after crossing the halfway mark in Karnataka Assembly polls with the party leading in 127 seats, according to early trends of results. The party is maintaining almost 7 per cent lead over the BJP in vote share.
According to the latest data from Election Commission, the BJP is leading in 68 seats, Janata Dal (Secular) in 22, Independents in 5 and Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha on one each.
Trends are now available for all 224 Assembly seats in the state. The Congress has a vote share of 43 per cent while it is 36 per cent for BJP and 13 per cent for JD(S). The halfway mark in assembly is 113. There were celebrations at Congress headquarters in Delhi in anticipation of victory.
Former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is leading from Channapatna Assembly constituency. BJP’s Mahesh Tenginkai is leading while Congress leader Jagadish Shettar is trailing Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly constituency. Shettar, a former Karnataka Chief Minister, had left the BJP and joined Congress after denial of ticket. (ANI)