Bengaluru: Almost 70 per cent voters cast their vote during Karnataka elections on Saturday, the Election Commission informed.
As the voting came to the close, exit polls conducted by different survey organisations showed contrasting results.
Overall, the surveys have projected a hung assembly, which gives former Prime Minister HD Gowda the trump card in government formation.
Karnataka has 224 Assembly seats and a party/alliance needs to touch 113 to form the government.
As per India Today-Axis My India exit poll, Congress is likely to win 106-118 seats. BJP, on the other hand, is expected to get around 79-92 seats while JD(S) will bag 22-30 seats. Anything between 1 and 4 seats will be won by Independents.
India TV-VMR Exit Poll also projects Congress emerging as the single largest party with 97 seats, with BJP, JD(S) and independent bagging 87, 35 and 3 seats respectively.
ABP C-Voter exit poll puts BJP as the single largest party with 101-113 seats with it being able to form the Government single-handedly. As per its poll, Congress will get 82 to 94 seats, while JD(S) and others will get 18-31 seats and 1 to 8 seats respectively.
Republic TV-Jan ki Baat exit poll also favours BJP inclining towards majority with 95-114 seats. Anything between 73 and 82 seats will be bagged by Congress, and 32-43 seats will go to JD(S). Independent candidates are likely to get 2-3 seats.
Times Now-VMR exit poll claims 90-103 seats for Congress, while the BJP will bag 80-93 seats. JD(S) might get 30-39 seats and independent candidates 2-4 seats.
NewsX-CNX exit poll has projected BJP as the largest party with 102-110 seats, followed by the Congress with 72-78 seats and JDS with 35-39 seats.