By IANS,
Bangalore : Exit polls conducted by two leading TV channels Thursday gave differing pictures of the possible outcome of the Karnataka assembly elections, which concluded earlier in the day.
CNN-IBN’s exit poll indicates a fractured verdict, with the Congress emerging as the single largest party bagging 86 seats in the 224-member assembly.
In the last polls in 2004, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had emerged the single largest entity with 79 seats.
The CNN-IBN poll suggests BJP would get the same number of seats, 79.
The third player in the fray, the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which won 58 seats in 2004, will be a loser this time, bagging 45 seats with the rest going to smaller parties and independents, the channel said on the basis of its exit poll.
The exit poll conducted by NDTV puts BJP way ahead of the Congress but indicated it could still fall short of a clear majority of 113 seats on its own.
It said BJP was likely to bag 95-115 seats while the Congress could end up with 55-75 seats.
The poll gave JD-S between 45-55 seats. Smaller parties and independents were expected to win between 10-15 seats.
The voting was held in three phases – May 10 for 89 seats, May 16 for 66 and May 22 for 69.
Counting for all seats will be held May 25.