By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, May 16: An exit poll conducted by NDTV forecast that the BJP was expected to pick up between 32 and 42 of the 66 seats contested in the second phase of the Karnataka Assembly elections on Friday.
The central part of the state, where the polls were held, is not the BJP’s strongest support base. The BJP is considered strongest in northern Karnataka, which will go to the polls in the third phase on Thursday.
Counting of results will take place on Sunday, May 25.
The exit poll predicted that the Congress, which had 20 seats, is expected to win between 15 and 20 seats, and the JD(S), which had 12 seats, is likely to get between eight and 12 seats. The BJP had a three per cent swing in its favour, according to the exit poll. The Congress faced a loss of one per cent votes and the JD(S) two per cent, it said. Others were expected to win around two to four seats, the exit poll said.
After exit polls covering 155 seats (more than half of the total 224), the BJP has been projected as getting 73 seats, the Congress 45 and JD(S) 42.
Security was tightened in light of Thursday’s poll-related violence in which Naxalites shot dead two persons at Hebri, in Udupi district, and also some clashes between Congress and BJP workers in Bellary.
More than 56,000 security personnel acted as a deterrent to trouble-makers and also to Naxal outfits which had called for people to boycott polling in the districts of Udupi, Chikmagalur and Shimoga.
No untoward incident was reported from the highly-sensitive Bellary district following scaled-up protection in the wake of an alleged attack on a Congress worker by BJP leader and former minister B. Sriramulu on Thursday. Barring two minor incidents of damaging EVMs, voting was trouble-free, the Election Commission said.
Taking a serious view of the attack in Bellary, the Election Commission ordered the suspension of DSP Amrut Pal and directed DIG Alok Kumar to hold charge.
Prime accused Sriramulu, who surrendered before the police, has been released on bail.
The BJP, which won 35 seats in the 2004 election from these districts, is hoping to push up its tally in this Lingayat-dominated belt as its leader, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, is from that community.
The Congress feels the anti-incumbency wave that the BJP and JD(S) attracted would come to its rescue and enable it to fare better this time. The Congress had won 20 seats in the last election from this region. But the exit polls do not favour the Congress even holding on to its 20 seats from the 66 seats for which polling was held on Friday.
The JD(S), looking for another fractured verdict to remain a key political player, had been struggling in this phase.
Two incidents of voters damaging EVMs were reported, from Soregondanhalli of Hiryur constituency in Chitradurga and Holesanasanavadi village in Shimoga district, following an altercation between voters and polling staff. However, polling resumed after initiating remedial measures.
Instances of voters boycotting polls were reported from Banagere and Kotehal villages in Chitradurga following a "mixup" in the voter list.
