Karnataka Election Results live: Three hours into counting, Congress has stayed above the majority mark. Congress is at 116 seats. In 2013, it won it had got 122 seats. But margins in around 50-60 seats are too slim for comfort. The possibility that Congress can fall below the halfway mark or improve its tally cannot be ruled out.
The high-command of Congress, headed Mallikarjun Kharge, has called for a meeting in Bangalore this evening. Winners, as per news reports, have been asked to gather Hilton Hotel. Kharge, along with three observers, will interact with elected MLAs to gather feedback on potential chief ministerial candidate.
Both DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are in the reckoning for the top post. The big names leading, trailing– Basavaraj Bommai leading.
With the Congress party taking the lead in the Karnataka election results, party members are celebrating. The focus of the praise is on disqualified Lok Sabha member Rahul Gandhi for leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is said to have helped in garnering ground support. The Yatra was held in the state for 22 days and covered eight districts.
Karnataka election results live: Setbacks for BJP
— Minister of Large and Medium Industries of Karnataka Murugesh Nirani, is currently trailing in the Bilgi constituency
— Transport Minister, B Sriramulu, is currently trailing in the Ballari Rural constituency.
— BJP leader and Minister for Cooperation, ST Somashekhar, is currently trailing in the Yeshantpur constituency.
— Housing minister V Somanna, who is also the district minister of Chamarajanagar, is currently trailing in the Chamarajanagar segment.
— Health Minister K Sudhakar is currently trailing in the Chikkaballapura Assembly constituency
— BJP leader and Major and Medium Irrigation Department Minister, Govind Karjol, is currently trailing in the Mudhol assembly segment.
— MP Renukacharya, Political Secretary to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, trailing in Honnalli constituency
—School Education minister BC Nagesh trailing in Tiptur
— MTB Nagaraj, Minister of Small Scale Industries, trailing in Hosakote
— Minister of Revenue R Ashoka trailing in Kanakapura but leading in Padmanabhanagar.
Karnataka election results live:What the latest EC data has to say about Cong
As per the EC data, Congress is clocking 43.2% vote share and is leading on 112 seats. Constituencies with higher literacy appear to be favouring BJP, with the party leading in 35 of 56 constituencies with literacy rates above 80%
