Opinion poll predicts hung House, Congress single-largest party

Karnataka may see a hung Assembly in the May 12 elections with the ruling Congress emerging as the single-largest party and JD(S)-BSP combine playing the kingmaker's role, an opinion poll claimed on Friday.

The BJP, which wants to oust the Siddaramaiah government, will come second but it will also need the help of another bloc to form the government, the opinion poll conducted by India Today-Karvy Insights said.

As per the prediction, the Congress, which won 122 seats in the 224-strong Assembly in 2013, is likely to bag 90 to 101 seats when the mid-way mark is 113. BJP, which won 40 seats in 2013, is likely to almost double its tally winning 78 to 86 seats. The JD(S)-BSP combine is expected to win 34-43 seats and would play the kingmaker's role in case of a hung verdict. In the last polls, JD(S) had won 40 seats.

Interestingly, the opinion poll gave a boost to the Congress as a majority of the respondents wanted the JD(S)-BSP to support the Congress in case of a hung verdict. It claimed 39% wanted the JD(S)-BSP to support Siddaramiah while only 29% wanted the combine to ally with the BJP. Also, a 45% felt that the Congress should be given another chance in government.

The opinion poll claimed that the Congress is likely to bag 37% votes against 36.59% it polled in the 2013 elections. If one goes by the opinion poll, the BJP will improve its vote share from 19.89% to an impressive 35% and the JD(S)-BSP will get 19%. The JD(S) alone had got 19.89% last time.