BJP ahead in 11 seats in Karnataka as postal ballots taken up for counting

Bengaluru: The BJP was ahead in 11 seats, Congress in four, and JD(S) in two as the counting of postal ballots was taken up first in 28 Lok Sabha segments in Karnataka.

JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi (BJP) were ahead in the Mandya and Dharwad Lok Sabha segments, respectively, official sources said.

Counting began at 29 centres in the state at 8 am.

Karnataka is the most important state for the BJP in south India as it’s only here that it had held power in the past.

The Congress won a mere one seat out of the total 28 in the State in the 2019 general elections.

BJP had swept the previous Lok Sabha elections bagging 25 seats, while an independent backed by it also won.

JD(S), headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, had emerged victorious in one constituency. The Congress and the JD(S) were running a coalition government back then and had fought the election together.

The regional outfit joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September last year and fought the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP, and is contesting in three seats — Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.