Congress to Emerge as Single Largest Party in Karnataka, JD(S) to be Kingmaker: Opinion Poll

New Delhi: As the Karnataka poll date inches closer, an opinion poll conducted by ABP has projected ruling Congress to emerge as the single largest party in a hung Assembly.

The opinion poll said that Congress would get a 38% vote share, followed by BJP at 33% and Janata Dal (Secular) at 22%. But none of the parties would get the magic figure of 112, and hence, fall short of forming a government in the state on their own.

The survey showed that the Congress could win 97 seats in the House of 225, while the BJP led by BS Yeddyurappa is projected to win 84 seats. The opinion poll, like others before it, suggested that JD(S) could emerge as the kingmaker with 37 seats.

The survey indicated that 38% people believe that Congress is better for development with 32% of the people going for BJP and 24% with JD(S).

Among the rural voters, the poll has predicted that 39% rural voters will vote for Congress, 32% for the BJP, and 23% for the JD(S).

Lingayat voters, however, continue to favour the BJP, with 61% likely to vote for it despite Siddaramaiah’s move to grant a minority religion tag.

Around 43% of the survey respondents believe that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s governance has been 'Good'. He is also the top choice for the chief ministerial post among the respondents with 33 per cent favouring him.

BJP's CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa was not so far behind and was the choice of 27 per cent of the people surveyed. Deve Gowda's son and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy received the support of 22 per cent of the people.

Earlier, the India Today opinion polls had predicted that the BJP’s vote share is likely to go up, but not enough to dislodge the current Congress government.

According to the India Today Group's Karvy Insights opinion poll, the Congress would retain its vote share with 90-101 seats. Meanwhile, the BJP's seat share, although showing an improvement, stayed at 78-86. Meanwhile, the poll predicted that JD(S) would secure 34-43 seats.

The Karnataka election results will be declared on May 15 and the current Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s tenure will expire on 24 May.