Karnataka Assembly Election 2018 dates, results and opinion polls
Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 is one of the most keenly awaited electoral battles of 2018. Here the two national parties the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will go head to head against each other and against the regional heavy weight Janta Dal Secular JD(S). Currently the Congress party holds a simple majority of 123 seats in the 224 constituencies’ strong Karnataka legislative assembly. The BJP holds 44 and the JD(s) has 40 seats respectively. In the last assembly elections held on 5th May 2013, Congress was successful in winning the state back from BJP by surpassing the magical figure of 113 seats to gain a simple majority and form the government with ease. In 2018, the Karnataka electoral battle becomes that much more interesting as Karnataka is one of the last two big states along with Punjab that is held by the Congress.
Karnataka is also the only Southern state of India that has been ruled by the BJP in the past. The Karnataka state elections 2018 is being fought on the backdrop of recent bypoll election losses for the BJP which were held for both state assembly seats and Lok Sabha seats in the states of Rajasthan, MP, UP and Bihar. Karnataka Assembly Elections 2013 From 2008 – 2013 Karnataka was ruled by the BJP government after it came to power under the leadership of B. S. Yeddyurappa by winning 110 seats in 2008 assembly elections and forming the government with the help of few independent MLAs. But later in 2011 due to corruption charges and internal revolts, B. S. Yeddyurappa had to resign from the CM’s post. Later he quit BJP and started his own party named Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) and fought against the BJP in the 2013 assemble elections. The Karnataka legislative assembly election of 2013 was held on 5th May 2013 with voting taking place in 50,446 polling stations. The state assembly elections in 2013 saw a healthy voter turnout of 70.23% with 4.18 crore voters exercising their right to vote. The results were declared on 8th May 2013 in which the Indian National Congress (INC) under the leadership of Siddaramaiah was able to secure simple majority of 122 seats with 36.6% vote share, 9 more than the majority mark of 113 in the 224 member house. Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 Voting and Result Dates The current tenure of Karnataka assembly will end on 28th May 2018 and as per rules the assembly election will have to be held and new house will have to be constituted before the said date. It is expected that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will visit Karnataka in the first week of April 2018 and declare the official poll dates somewhere around 15th April 2018 after various board and other examinations are completed. Voting for the 224 assembly seats is expected to be held in early May 2018 with 2nd May being stated as the likely date. The polling is expected to be completed in a single phase just like in 2013. Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 Opinion Polls All the three major political parties and others in the race have launched their election campaign and last ditch political maneuvering is being played out by all players in the state of Karnataka as we speak. Most opinion polls held by private players in early January 2018 had predicted a hung assembly with a nail biting contest between all the three major players; Indian National Congress under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of B. S. Yeddyurappa and Janata Dal (Secular) under the leadership of H. D. Kumaraswamy.
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