Zee News-Matrize Exit Poll Gives Congress An Edge Over BJP

The Zee News-Matrize exit poll has predicted a hung assembly in the Karnataka elections. The exit poll has predicted 103-118 seats for the Congress party, 79-94 seats to the BJP, and 25-33 seats to the JDS. The exit poll has given 2-5 seats to the other parties.

Photo Credit: File photo of Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar

According to Zee News survey, Congress will emerge as the single largest party, while all parties will fall short of the half-way mark of 113. There are 224 seats in the Karnataka assembly.

As per the exit poll, while Congress is predicted to have a 41 per cent vote share, BJP will have 36 per cent, and JDS will have 17 per cent vote share.

The exit poll also predicted that independent candidates likely to get about 6 per cent of the vote share.

The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to woo voters, with the Basavaraj Bommai government scrapping the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota, and distributing it equally among the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.

While the Congress has made corruption a central theme of its campaign, pointing to various "scams" and 40 per cent commission charge by a contractors' body.

The election was held in a single-phase on May 10 while the counting of votes will take place on May 13. The tenure of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 24 May 2023.