All eyes on Karnataka polls

The May 12 election to the Karnataka Assembly, which is being watched by the whole nation, will be a run-up to the 2019 LS polls as the Modi government is at the end of its term. Poll pundits are keeping a close watch on the three-cornered Karnataka election as the result will be treated as a mandate to the reforms and schemes of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

The ruling Congress and the BJP are the main contenders for power, while former PM Deve Gowda’s JD(S) is likely to play the kingmaker, according to most surveys and opinion polls. No party in Karnataka has won a second successive term in office since 1985 when the Janata Dal under Ramakrishna Hegde had retained power.

The Congress is aiming at retaining the only large state it rules after Punjab, while the BJP is striving to form its government in Karnataka, which party president Amit Shah said would be its “gateway to south”, for a second time. The BJP had ruled the state between 2008 and 2013, the only time it did so. In the present election, three former Chief Ministers, along with incumbent Siddaramaiah are in the fray. Siddaramaiah is contesting from Badami and Chamundeshwari, Yeddyurappa from Shikaripura, Kumaraswamy (Chennapatna and Ramanagara), and BJP’s Jagdish Shettar from Hubbali-Dharwad.

Over 2,600 candidates are in the fray and there are more than 4.96 crore voters, who will be electing their representatives on Saturday. It is for the first time that people would be able know about the queue status at polling stations with a large number of voters through a mobile app, sources said. Polling will be held in 222 constituencies of the 224-member Assembly as election has been countermanded in Jayanagara following the death of BJP candidate and sitting MLA BN Vijaykumar. The Congress had won 122 seats in the 2013 elections, ten more than the halfway mark. The BJP and JD(S) had 40 seats each.