Karnataka polls: Congress gets simple majority

Bangalore, May 8: The results of the crucial May 5

assembly elections were announced on Wednesday. The

swept the polls while the

was decimated and was even struggling to finish second. The JDS put up a decent performance while the KJP of B S Yeddyurappa, who was expected to play the role of a kingmaker in the post-poll scenario, didn't make much of an impact apart from ensuring the BJP's downfall.

For constituency-wise results, click here

3.30 pm

Congres's final tally is 121 seats while the BJP and JDS got 40 seats each. The KJP got 7 seats.

2.43 pm

Congress tally touched 118. Both the BJP and JDS won 38 each. The KJP won 5 seats while the BSR Congress won 4 seats. Besides Karandlaje, other leaders who parted ways with the BJP and joined the KJP, like CM Udasi and Renukacharya, also lost.

Former Prime Minister and JDS chief H D Devegowda said he was not very disappointed with his party's performance.

2.42 pm

Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who has been in the face of a storm, congratulated the Congress party for its victory in Karnataka, saying that party which has supported corruption has lost an election. Meanwhile, sources said that party chief Sonia Gandhi was not willing to continue with either Kumar or Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal so that the party's image doesn't get tainted.

2.18 pm

Congress won 112 seats in 203 declared seats. It leads in 9 out of rest 20 seats.

2.10 pm

Outgoing CM Jagadish Shettar was reportedly getting ready to submit his resignation.

1.55 pm

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi led the party's campaigning in Karnataka and worked hard. He congratulated the people of Karnataka. Meanwhile, the Congress won 110 seats in the 224-member assembly (elections were held in 223 seats).

PM: He (Rahul) took a leading role in the campaigning and worked hard. I congratulate the Congress workers of Karnataka.

— Dr Manmohan Singh (@PMOIndia) May 8, 2013

1.36 pm

Congress's tally touches 107. The JDS gets 34 seats while the BJP gets 31 seats. Congress president Sonia Gandhi said she was happy with the result in Karnataka while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the results showed a defeat of the BJP's ideology.

Kannada actor Ramya said the Karnataka results meant Hindutva was defeated.

1.12 pm

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, who criticised the BJP for disrupting the Parliament, said the Karnataka results showed an innings defeat for the BJP and mocked the latter saying it would now blame the match, ball and the pitch for the loss.

Janardhan Dwivedi said it is the win of the Congress policies and the failure of those of the opposition party.

Meanwhile, Veerappa Moily said Siddaramaiah deserved to become the CM for he had done good work. He also accused the BJP of being insensitive towards the judiciary.

1.04 pm

BJP leader Rudy said the BJP will introspect the Karnataka debacle and return stronger than ever.Meanwhile, the Congress took its tally to 90 seats, followed by JDS (27) and BJP (20). The KJP and BSR Congress won 3 seats each.

12.48 pm

Siddaramaiah said after winning in Varuna that the people of Karnataka were tired of the misgovernance of the BJP government and voted for the Congress as the only alternative. He said the challenge of the Congress is to give a clean administration. He thanked Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the election, adding that the final decision on the chief minister will be taken by the High Command.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Karnataka results showed that people were watching the poll results closely. He said a government that doesn't deliver is removed and the BJP government in Karnataka was one such regime.

12.34 pm

B S Yeddyurappa wins in Shikaripura. Margin is 20,000. Siddaramaiah won from Varuna. Congress won 73 seats while the JDS won 22 seats.

12.21 pm

BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the Karnataka result was not surprising. "we knew it would happen", he said.

12.11 pm

Congress won 43 seats while the JDS won 12 and BJP won 11 seats. The KJP hasn't won a single seat. Its chief B S Yeddyurappa was leading by 18,000 votes.

12.07 pm

Suresh Kumar of BJP defeated Shobha Karandlaje of KJP in Rajajinagar in Bangalore. Rahul Gandhi aide Madhusudan Mistry congratulated the people of Karnataka for the Congress's victory although didn't clarify the name of the CM candidate. He even said he didn't know if anyone from the Centre would come to rule in Karnataka. Since Parameshwara was trailing, the case of Siddaramaiah was gaining prominence.

12.03 pm

KJP leader Dhananjay Kumar said his party tried its best but could not achieve what they had aimed. He said the Congress would not be able to form its own government. Kumar said there was no question of BSY going back to the BJP even though his plan to eat into the BJP's vote did not work out as expected.

11.50 am

Congress wins Davenegere (North) and (South). Father and son duo Shamanur Shivasankarappa and S S Mallikarjun won from these two seats. The Congress's tally touches 15, followed by the JDS (5) and BJP (3), BSR Congress (2) and Independents (2).

11.45 am

BSR Congress's Pooja Gandhi lost to JDS in Raichur. Indian Against Corruption Belgaum said: "People also punish BJP as it failed to be an effective and efficient opposition at the centre."

11.41 am

JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy said he would quit from his MP post after winning from Ramanagaram by 13,000 votes. He was also confident about his wife Anitha's victory although she was trailing till the last reports came in. On the question of Siddaramaiah becoming the CM, he said it was the Congress's internal matter.

11.30 am

Celebrations are seen outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi.

11.27 am

Congress wins 15 seats while BJP increases its tally to 3. Others have won 4 seats. JDS leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy blamed the media for pushing voters towards the Congress. He said his party will sit in the Opposition.

10.59 am

Ex-CM Sadanand Gowda said the BSY factor had affected the BJP. Meanwhile, JDS won Chamarajapet (Zameed Ahmed) and T Narsipura (Sudarshan). BJP won 2 seats.

BJP leader Lehar Singh Siroya said earlier that the BJP cadre on the ground is desperate to bring back B S Yeddyurappa in the party.

10.54 am

Jagadish Shettar leads while the Reddy brothers trail. Actor Pooja Gandhi and KJP's Shobha Karandlaje also trail. Earlier Union minister Kapil Sibal said the BJP will not only lose the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it will also end up third. Another minister Manish Tewari said the disruption caused in the Parliament over the last fortnight showed that the "entire charade was orchestrated for the Karnataka elections".

10.47 am

BJP, leading in just 42 seats, is placed third in the list after Congress and JDS. Congress leader Rajeev Shukla said the result in Karnataka was expected and it exposed the propaganda unleashed by the BJP leaders.

10.44 am

Sriramulu and his nephew Suresh winning in Bellary district. Congress wins Chamraja in Mysore (Vasu). Kharge said the Congress High Command will decide on who will become the CM.

10.38 am

Congress bags three more seats. They are: Sagar (Kagodu Timmappa), Karwad (Satish Sail) and BTM Layout Bangalore (Ramalinga Reddy). BJP suffers a blow in mining hinterland.

10.30 am

Pramod Madhwaraj wins in Udupi.

10.27 am

Congress's Priya Krishna wins in Govindrajnagar. This is its fourth win.

10.23 am

Cong wins three seats, all in coastal districts Puttur (Shakuntala Shetty), Beltangdi (Vasant Bangere) and Mudibidri (Abhaya Chandra). One Independent has won in Kundapur (Haladi Srinivas Shetty).

10.18 am

Congress sweeps Mangalore, Udupi, Davanagere and Bellary.

10.14 am

Noted surgeon Devi Shetty, a prominent citizen of Bangalore, said development is more an important issue for the parties to pursue.

10.02 am

Union minister Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress was going to establish its government in Karnataka. He was, however, surprised to see the JDS's result. Earlier, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP was paying the price for sticking on to its principle.

9.59 am

Both sons of former Chief Minister S Bangarappa were trailing. While Kumar Bangarappa is a Congress candidate, Madhu Bangarappa is a JD(S) candidate.

9.53 am

Congress leads in 103 seats while the BJP and JDS fight hard for a distant second position.

9.46 am

Cong leads in 76 seats while the BJP leads in 40 seats.

9.43 am

Senior BJP leader Ram Jethmalani said the BJP made a big mistake in leaving out B S Yeddyurappa, and regretted that the BJP scored self-goals. Cong leads in 73 seats. According to ETV Kannada, the party had taken lead in over 100 seats while the BJP and JDS were trailing far behind.

9.37 am

Congress leads in 70 seats. KJP leader Dhananjay Kumar hints at supporting the Congress. "We are not going to support either the BJP or JDS," he said. Congress leader Abishek Manu Singhvi said he was certain about the Congress victory. Celebrations started at the Congress headquarters in Bangalore.

9.35 am

Cong leads in 66 seats while the BJP leads in 36 seats. The JDS leads in 27 seats while the KJP leads in 7 seats. Others lead in 13 seats. Congress president Parameshwara trails.

9.30 am

Ex-Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda said the BJP will get 70-80 seats.

9.27 am

The Cong leads in 62 seats while the BJP leads in 34 seats. The JDS leads in 23 seats while the KJP leads in 4 seats.

9.23 am

Congress spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam said the people of Karnataka were against the BJP. On the question that the Congress might not get majority of its won, Nirupam said there was no doubt that his party would get a clear majority.

9.19 am

The BJP trails in areas inhabited by migrant population like Yelahanka. The party had a major support in these areas. Pramod Madhwaraj leads in Udupi.

9.16 am

Congress takes lead in 51 seats while the BJP leads in 28 seats. The JDS leads in 21 seats.

9.11 am

Syed Yasin leads in Raichur. R V Deshpande leads in Haliyal. BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh said the Karnataka poll was like a IPL match (he termed it Indian Political League) and said early trends not necessarily reflected the actual results.

9.05 am

Cong leads in 43 seats while the BJP leads in 25 seats. B Jivijaya leads in Madikeri. K G Vopaiah leads in Virajpet.

8.59 am

D Gundurao leads in Gandhinagar. Cong leads in 33 seats while the rest combined leads in 32 seats, according to ETV Kannada.

8.56 am

Lalaji R Menon leads in Kapu. V S Kumar leads in Karkal. Cong leads in 24 seats while BJP leads in 17 seats. Most of the BJP's leads in northern Karnataka.

8.54 am

8.53 am

Suresh Kumar trails.

8.50 am

Cong leads in 20 seats. Sanjeeva Matandoor leads in Puttur.

8.49 am

Cong leads in 15 seats while the BJP leads in 12 seats.

8.45 am

Cong leads in 12 seats while the BJP leads in 10 seats. The JDS leads in 5 seats while the KJP leads in 2 seats.

8.41 am

Cong leads in 9 seats while the BJP leads in 7 seats. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to attend a BJP parliamentary board meeting on Wednesday afternoon to dissect the party's performance in Karnataka.

8.35 am

BJP leads in 7 seats while the JDS leads in 4 seats. BSY leads in Shikaripur.

8.32 am

BSY trails. Cong leads in 6 seats, BJP in 5 seats while the JDS in 4.

8.30 am

Cong leads in 5 seats.

8.28 am

Congress leads in 4 seats, JDS and BJP lead in 2 seats. The KJP lead in 2 seats. Bangarappa trails.

8.20 am

Congress and JD(S) lead in 3 seats while the BJP leads in 2 seats. The KJP leads in 1 seat. Siddaramaiah and Sriramulu lead.

8.18 am

Congress takes lead in another seat.

8.16 am

BJP gets 1 lead.

8.11 am

Congress and KJP lead in 1 seat each.

8.05 am

Counting begins. Most of the results should be published by noon, said state election authorities.

The first report of the results are expected to be out from around 8 am.

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