Karnataka election: Congress, BJP in talks with JD(S); top 10 developments

With just one more day to go before the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 results, BJP president Amit Shah has asserted that his party will form the next government in the state, while the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(s), has claimed that neither incumbent chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah nor BJP chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa will become chief minister of Karnataka. Siddaramaiah, for his part, has exuded confidence that the Congress will get an absolute majority in Karnataka and has ruled out any possibility of a tie-up with the JD(S).  

Meanwhile, repolling on three polling booths -- one in north Bengaluru's Hebbal constituency and two in Kushtagi in Koppal district -- was scheduled to be held on Monday, according to the Election Commission (EC). The repolling was scheduled to be held from 7 am to 6 pm. 

According to most of the post-poll surveys, the BJP is set to emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, with the JD(S) likely to emerge as the kingmaker. As reported earlier, while most exit polls predicted a hung Assembly with the BJP ahead, two said the BJP would either come very close to or cross the halfway mark of 112 seats. However, the India Today-Axis exit poll said the Congress might bag a majority. No government in Karnataka since the Ramakrishna Hegde-led Janata Party in 1985 has been re-elected. 

A single-day polling was held in Karnataka in 222 of the 224 Assembly segments on Saturday, with a record 72.13 per cent voter turnout. The results of the election will be declared tomorrow. The Congress had won 122 seats and the BJP 40 seats in the last Karnataka Assembly election in 2013. 

Here are the top ten developments around the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 results: 

1) Both BJP, Congress courting JD(S) despite denials: BJP and the Congress leaders, according to a previous Business Standard report, are in touch with the JD(S) leadership, and have proposed power-sharing scenarios that could be acceptable to party leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy. The BJP and the Congress, both, have ran coalition governments with the JD (S) between 2004 and 2008.

The Congress, for its part, is open to repeating the formula where the chief minister from either party serves for 2.5 years each, and also recognises that Kumaraswamy would never agree to sharing power with current chief minister and friend turned foe Siddaramaiah. The Congress is amenable to making home minister R Ramalinga Reddy its chief ministerial nominee if there is a hung Assembly. 

The BJP, meanwhile, has proposed that it might be open to offering Kumaraswamy the first go at the chief ministerial chair. 

2) Repolling in three booths today: Repolling on three polling booths -- one in north Bengaluru's Hebbal constituency and two in Kushtagi in Koppal district -- was scheduled be held on Monday, according to the EC. "Repolling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm as an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioned at a polling booth in Hebbal on May 12, while at two booths in Kushtagi voters' names were wrongly listed," state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar told reporters. 

The names of nearly 275 voters were mixed up at the two polling stations in Kushtagi, about 400 km northwest of Bengaluru. As a result, voters cast their ballots at the wrong polling booth, Kumar said. 

3) Paswan mocks Rahul's statement on becoming prime minister if Congress wins 2019 LS polls: Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday mocked Rahul Gandhi's remark that he would become prime minister if the Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, saying that there was no vacancy for the top post as Narendra Modi would return to power in 2019.

Paswan was reacting to Gandhi's statement made at an interaction with the media during the recent campaign for the Karnataka Assembly polls, which has drawn snide remarks from those in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including Modi himself. 

"How can he (Rahul Gandhi) become prime minister in 2019? There is no vacancy. The NDA will return to power with a majority, and Narendra Modi will have his second term as prime minister," Paswan told reporters in Patna. 

"I am sure that in the next general elections, the people of the country will hold the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been performing well and the country has gained respect globally under his leadership, and therefore, the NDA will be given another chance," Paswan, the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, asserted. 

4) Siddaramaiah rubbishes exit polls, says Congress will get an absolute majority: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has brushed aside the exit polls, most of which have predicted a fractured verdict with some pointing towards a possible defeat for the Congress. Exuding confidence, Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that the Congress would get an absolute majority in Karnataka and ruled out any possibility of a tie-up with the JD(S), led by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. 

In a series of tweets, Siddaramaiah said that exit opinion polls would serve as "entertainment for the next two days" and that Congress' workers, supporters, and well-wishers should not "worry about exit polls". 

5) Siddaramaiah ready to step aside for Dalit chief minister: Responding to a question on the possibility of a Dalit chief minister in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said, "It is fine if the party decides to have a Dalit chief minister." The chief minister was speaking to reporters in the Chamundeshwari constituency, one of the two seats from where he contested in the high-stakes polls, along with Badami in north Karnataka. 

6) Amit Shah confident of BJP victory in Karnataka: BJP President Amit Shah, for his part, is also confident that his party will form the next government in Karnataka. "The BJP will form the government in Karnataka on May 15 evening after the results," Shah said while addressing a gathering of around 15,000 BJP workers at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji.

Last week, Shah had claimed that the BJP would win more than 130 seats in the Karnataka polls. He made this claim when asked whether the BJP would go for a post-poll alliance with any party. "BJP will win more than 130 seats and form government in Karnataka. There is no question of seeking or giving support to anyone," Shah said. 

7) Yeddyurappa matches Siddaramaiah's confidence, says BJP will get absolute majority in Karnataka: If Siddaramaiah is confident of a Congress victory, his opposite number in the BJP is no less confident that the chief minister will be from the BJP after the results are declared. Yeddyurappa on Sunday said that he will "give it in writing that the saffron party would win the Karnataka Assembly election with an absolute majority" and get 125 to 130 seats.

He claimed that there is a strong wave in BJP's favour. "I have been in Karnataka politics for long... I will give it in writing. BJP is winning, with an absolute majority, the Karnataka election. You can verify it once the results are out," he told reporters. "We expect to win 125-130 seats. Congress will not cross 70 and JD(S) will not cross 24-25. These are my figures. My calculations have never gone wrong in my political career," he said. 

To a query, Yeddyurappa said that there was no possibility of a hung Assembly. "The Congress knows it is going to lose. There is no question of a hung Assembly. I am confident that BJP will form the government," he said. 

8) JD(S) says Siddaramaiah, Yeddyurappa will have to swallow their words: Exuding just as much confidence as the BJP and Congress ahead of the May 15 results, the Janata Dal (Secular) on Sunday claimed that neither Siddaramaiah nor Yeddyurappa will become the chief minister of Karnataka. Talking to news agencies, JD(S) National General Secretary Danish Ali said that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the BJP's Yeddyurappa were making claims of forming the next government in the state but the results would prove them wrong.

"Both Siddaramaiah and Yeddyurappa are going to swallow their words in the afternoon of May 15 (result day) as they won't be able to become chief minister. People of Karnataka want to see H D Kumaraswamy as chief minister," Ali said. Kumaraswamy is the chief ministerial face of the JD(S). 

All exit polls gave the JD(S) nearly two dozen seats or more, which could make it the kingmaker if there is a hung Assembly. 

9) Congress says no chance of post-poll alliance with JD(S): Congress on Sunday denied any chances of stitching a post-poll alliance with the JD(S) to come to power in Karnataka. Addressing the media in New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that he does not believe in the exit polls whether it is in favour or against his party. "That situation to go in an alliance with the JD(S) is not going to arise, I can assure you that. I do not have any faith on exit polls whether it is in our favour or against us," Khera said.  

10) Karnataka Assembly election 2018 voter turnout highest since 1952 state polls: The 72.13 per cent voter turnout in the Karnataka Assembly election has broken all records and is the highest since the 1952 state polls, Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar said on Sunday. Women and young voters exercised their franchise in large numbers on Saturday, he told news agencies.

Kumar said the 2013 Assembly polls had recorded a turnout of 71.45 per cent, which was the highest in the last six Assembly elections. It was 65 per cent in 2008 and 2004, 69 per cent in the 1989 and 1994, and 69 per cent in the 1990 elections, he said. 

                                                                                                                                                                         With agency inputs