While the exit polls had predicted a hung Assembly in Karnataka with a slight edge for the Congress, the trends show that the party has crossed the half-way mark of the seats needed for the majority. With Congress inching close to victory, the party has asked all its winning MLAs to reach Bengaluru on Saturday.
The move is being seen as an attempt by the party to keep its flock together and prevent any potential defections or crossovers to other parties.
As per the Election Commission of India website the Congress party, which won two seats, is leading in another 128 seats. The BJP is leading in 66 seats, while the Janata Dal (S) is a distant third with leads in just 22 seats. The counting of the votes for 224 Assembly seats began at 8am in the morning of Saturday May 13.
Speaking to the reporters outside his residence in Sadashiv Nagar in Bengaluru, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the victory a win for ‘Janata Janardhan’. Kharge confirmed that the party had asked all of its MLAs to regroup in the state capital later in the evening and added that a call will be simultaneously taken on the next course of action of the party.
“We are in touch with all the MLAs and have asked them to report to Bengaluru by evening. The high command will meanwhile send an observer after which a call will be taken on future course of action of the party,” Kharge said.
“He also called on the losing candidates of the party to not feel bad about the results and urged them to be in touch with the people of their respective constituencies to form greater relationships with them which will eventually ensure them a victory in the future.
"We will form the govt with a heavy majority, there's no doubt about it. Negative, divisive campaign of the PM did not work," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told the news agency ANI earlier in the day.