Historic Win for BJP in Karnataka, Congress, JD(S) humbled

The long wait is finally over. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defying all permutations and combinations, made history in Karnataka by emerging as the strong contender to form the next government on its own. It no longer requires the support of JD(S), which paid the price for its betrayal.

Out of the 224 seats in Karnataka Assembly, BJP won 110 seats. It now requires 3 more seats to get a majority, which is within its reach, as some independents and other small parties hinted at support the party.

The BJP proved the NDTV exit poll accurate, which predicted almost similar number of seats for all parties. While the BJP bagged 110 seats, Congress won 80 seats. The JD(S), lagged way behind with just 28 seats. Others won 6 seats. While BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate BS Yediyurappa won by a convincing margin, former Karnataka CM N Dharam Singh (Congress) lost the election. He had earlier won assembly elections 9 times. Kumaraswamy managed to win his seat.

The BJP's state and central leadership are upbeat over the results, as the party is going to form government in South India for the first time. The Karnataka results came as a major setback for the Congress, as it has already lost Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in the past 12 months.