Karnataka Election Highlights: Campaigning ends, state gears up for polling

Opinion polls and surveys have projected a thriller of a contest in Karnataka, with neither BJP nor the Congress getting a majority on its own and the JD(S) of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda playing the kingmaker.

A high-voltage campaign for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections ended on Thursday evening amid predictions of a close fight and a hung assembly.

Opinion polls and surveys have projected a thriller of a contest, with neither BJP nor the Congress getting a majority on its own and the JD(S) of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda playing the kingmaker.

Polling for 223 seats of the 224-member Assembly will be held on May 12. Results will be declared on May 15.

Here are the highlights:

3.04pm: Shiv Sena accuses its estranged ally BJP of rigging EVMs to win elections.

“Ahead of the Karnataka elections, 10,000 fake voter ID cards were recovered from a flat in Bengaluru. The Congress has targeted the BJP on the issue. This voter ID scam shows that the Karnataka election has touched a new low,” Sena says in an editorial in its mouth piece ‘Saamana’..

“A large sum of money is being used in the elections. From where the BJP gets so much money is no more a secret as everyone knows the truth.

“Money starts flowing ahead of any election, be it gram panchayat or Lok Sabha...It seems as if notes are being printed by ‘Mudra Bank’ in every house...The Congress used to indulge in this, which the BJP is now doing,” alleges Shiv Sena.

1.15pm:

1pm: Karnataka is an important election. Both parties, namely BJP & Congress have invested heavily in it. I am certain that BJP will be in a comfortable position and will get simple majority and will form the government in the state: Ram Madhav, BJP