Bangalore: The next Karnataka government will become clear on Sunday when votes cast in the three-phase Assembly elections are counted at 48 centres across the state.
Counting will begin at 0800 hrs IST and results for the 224 Assembly constituencies are expected to be out by 1500 hrs IST.
Chief Electoral Officer M N Vidyashankar said a well-connected network between counting centres and the election office would ensure results are announced “real-time”.
The BJP and Congress have dismissed pre-poll and post-poll findings and claim that they will form the government on their own.
JD(S) president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda had said earlier that no one can form a government without his party's support but now says his party will get a clear majority.
The voting percentage this time showed a marginal decline with 64.72 per cent of the 4.07 crore electorate exercising their franchise as against 64.9 per cent in 2004.
A total of 2,241 candidates contested the elections held in three phases on May 10, 16 and 22 in which 46,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were deployed.
In the 2004 assembly election, 1,715 were in the fray. The Congress contested 222 seats, BJP 224 and JDS 219. BSP, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, contested 218 seats and threatens to cut into the vote share of Congress like in Gujarat during the Assembly elections last December.
BJP chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa, Samajwadi Party leader S Bangarappa, JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy, his brother H D Revanna, state Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief minister N Dharam Singh, former deputy chief ministers Siddaramaiah and M P Prakash will be among the prominent candidates whose fortunes will be known tomorrow.
Other notable contestants are: two sons of Bangarappa, Kumar and Madhu, locked in a sibling battle of ballot in Soraba, former ministers R V Deshpande, D K Shivakumar, A Krishnappa, Ramalinga Reddy, Dr G Parameshwara (all Cong), K S Eswarappa, Jagadish Shettar, Katta Subramanya Naidu, R Ashok (all BJP), N Cheluvaraya Swamy of JD(S) and JD(S) state unit
party president Merajuddin Patel.
Seven Members of Parliament too are trying their luck to enter the assembly. They are film star-turned politician, M H Ambareesh, A Venkatesh Naik, Narsingrao Suryavamshi (all Cong), Basavanagouda Patil Yatnal, Ramesh Jigajinagi, G Karunakara Reddy (all BJP) and S Bangarappa of Samajwadi Party.
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