Bengaluru: The Karnataka assembly elections were completed for 224 constituencies in a single phase on May 10 and the Republic-PMARQ exit poll predicts that the Congress party will emerge as the single-largest party. The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to come in second and Janata Dal (Secular) may just get enough seats to be a kingmaker.

The exit polls by P-MARQ, Polstrat, Matrize, Digvijay-C and News First have projected the Congress as the winner with an average of 104 seats out of 224. The BJP, on the other hand, is predicted to win an average of 94 seats followed by the JDS which is likely to win 25. Three of those constituencies are likely to be won by other smaller parties.

In the previous election in 2018, the BJP managed to win 104 seats out of 224 whereas the Congress won in 78 constituencies, ending up as the second-largest party. The Janata Dal-Secular (JDS), meanwhile, finished third with 38 seats. Notably, the Karnataka election results will be announced on May 13. According to Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer, the voter turnout by 5 pm was 65.69%. A total of 5,31,33,054 people voted on May 10 out of which 11.71 lakh people were first-time voters.