Sensex soars 371.84pts as BJP leads in Karnataka

As counting is underway in Karnataka, market indices soared in Tuesday morning trade.

The BSE's Sensex surged by 371.84 points to trade at 35,928.55, while the Nifty traded 103.65 points-higher at 10,910.25.

As per the latest results from the Election Commission, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has marked a lead on 95 seats while Congress is trailing in far second with a lead on 47 seats.

The third key player, Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) is close on the heels of Congress with a lead on 37 seats, as per the official trends by the Election Commission.

The chief ministerial candidates, BJP's BS Yeddyurappa is leading from Shikaripura seat, Congress' Siddaramaiah is leading from Badami but trailing behind JD(S)' GT Deve Gowda in Chamudeshawari. JD(S)'s HD Kumaraswamy is meanwhile leading from both Ramanagara and Channapatna seats.

Counting of votes began at 8 a.m. for 221 out of 224 assembly constituencies in 58,546 polling stations in the state. The elections in two constituencies, Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, both in Bengaluru have been postponed earlier.

A total of 2,654 candidates, including 216 women candidates were in the fray for the Assembly Elections this year.

It may be noted that a party or an alliance needs 112 seats to form the government.