The fate of the four-month-old BJP government in Karnataka will be decided on Monday with the by-poll election results of 15 Assembly seats in the state which held on Thursday. On Monday, the counting on these 15 seats will be done which went for by-poll in the 224-member Assembly of Karnataka.
BJP currently has 105 seats in the Assembly and needs at least six seats out of 15 seats, for which the results will be announced on Monday.
Although there was vacancy on 17 seats in the Assembly, but the polls went for 15 seats only due to pending of litigation on two seats in High Court.
Interestingly, Congress is also eyeing on the results as its leaders are again indicating a tie-up with the JD-S in the state. BK Hariprasad, Congress leader said that many things will change after the outcome of the results.
According to Election Commission, a voter turnout of 67.91 per cent was reported in the by-polls. The counting of votes will begin at 8 am in the morning on Monday and it is estimated that the results will be declared by afternoon.
Karnataka went on Assembly election last year and the Congress-JD (S) alliance formed the government in the state. The government felled around a year later and the BS Yediyurappa-led BJP formed the government with its 105 MLAs.
The strength of the Assembly fell short after the resignations of 14 Congress MLAs. The rebel MLAs were disqualified and by-poll was held on 15 seats.
According to the local exit polls in Karnataka, the ruling BJP will win the majority in the 15 Assembly seat segment.
As per a Kannada news channel, Power TV, a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 Assembly seats for BJP is predicted in the exit polls. For Congress, it predicted three to six seats and zero to two seats for JD(S).
Interestingly, BJP fielded 13 of 16 disqualified legislators who joined the party after the Supreme Court allowed them to contest the polls.
Meanwhile, the BJP faced revolts inside the party as many candidates were upset after being denied tickets in certain constituencies. But, the party termed it a small issue and it won’t affect the results.
By-elections were held in 15 constituencies on December 5 in Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chikkaballapura, K.R. Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, K.R. Pete and Hunsur Assembly seats.