Both the BJP and Congress expressed confidence of securing a majority on their own as the State went to the Assembly polls on Wednesday.
Seeking to downplay the exit polls that have predicted a hung Assembly with a slight edge for the Congress, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai maintained that the exit polls were bound to see a variance of 5% to 10% when compared with the final results. “Let us wait for the actual declaration of results on May 13. The BJP is bound to get majority. There is no possibility of the Janata Dal (S) turning out to be a kingmaker,” he said.
At the same time, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar too maintained that their party would form the government on its own.
‘No need for alliance’
Mr. Shivakumar, who is KPCC president, went a step ahead and ruled out any possibility of having a post-poll alliance with the JD(S), stating that his party would reach the halfway mark on its own.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted: “Mood of Karnataka is a clear vote against incompetence, maladministration and corruption. Mood of Karnataka is a clear vote for governance and progress. The Congress is going to win and win big.”
The day saw several prominent political leaders, including Mr. Bommai, AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr. Siddaramaiah, former Chief Ministers B. S. Yediyurappa and H. D. Kumaraswamy, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr. Shivakumar exercising their franchise along with family members.
All with families
The Chief Minister exercised his franchise at the government model school in Shiggaon along with his wife, son, and daughter.
Mr. Kharge, along with his wife Radhabai Kharge, cast his vote at Basavanagar in Kalaburagi while Mr. Siddaramaiah voted at a booth at a public school in his native Siddaramanahundi in Varuna constituency.
Mr. Yediyurappa cast his vote in Shikaripur along with his two sons, while Mr. Kumaraswamy exercised his franchise at Ketaganahalli in Ramangara taluk along with his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. Another Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda voted in Bengaluru with his family members.
Nonagenarian votes
Mr. Deve Gowda, who will turn 91 soon, cast his vote at Paduvalahippe in Holenarasipur taluk of Hassan district. “The results of the election will come out on May 13. Kumaraswamy’s Pancharathna Yatra received an impressive response. I am hopeful that people will express confidence in him,” the former Prime Minister said.
