Karnataka, India

All eyes are on India's Karnataka state as voting for the 224 assembly seats began on Wednesday (May 10) morning. Politicians and public figures like Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Sudha Murthy urged people to cast their votes. The voting will take place till 6 om and thereafter, the exit polls will be out. According to Mint, a total of 2,615 candidates are in the race. The campaigning for the state elections ended on Monday evening with a war of words between top guns of all major political parties and allegations and accusations flying amid the Karnataka Elections 2023. 

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While many opinion polls have predicted a win for Congress, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Minister Basaraj Bommai are eyeing a second term in the state for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and have shown confidence in retaining power with a full majority. 

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The majority mark to form the government in Karnataka is 113 seats. Some constituencies which will make a major impact in the polls are Kanakapura, Shiggaon, Hubli-Darwad, Channapatna, Chaittapur, Ramanagara, Varuna and Chikamagalur.

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The majority of opinion polls have projected a win for Congress in the southern citadel. The counting of votes will be followed by announcement of the results on May 13 (Saturday). 

Here's what opinion polls have predicted

As cited by Mint, the majority of opinion polls have predicted a "major win" for Congress, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could face a big loss, and Janata Dal might perform below par. 

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The ABP News-CVoter opinion poll predicted that Congress is likely to form the government and might win 107 to 119 seats, while BJP is likely to bag 74 to 86 seats and Janata Dal (S) can secure between 23 and 35 seats. The poll suggests that Congress could end up securing some 40 per cent vote share, while BJP and JD (S) are likely to secure 35 per cent and 17 per cent vote shares respectively. 

India TV-CNX opinion poll predicted 105 seats for Congress, 85 for BJP and 32 for JD (S).

A pre-poll by Kannada media outlet Eedina not only predicted a comfortable victory for Congress but stated that BJP might not secure more than 65-67 seats. 

India Today-CVoter predicted Congress is likely to win 107 and 119 seats while BJP could win 74 to 86 seats. 

However contrary to this, Zee News-Matrize's opinion poll predicted BJP to win 103 to 115 seats, Congress to secure 79 to 91 seats and JD (S) 26-36 seats. 

Karnataka's chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is contesting for the fourth time from the Shiggaon constituency where he has already won thrice. 

Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy is contesting from Channapatna and Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah is contesting from Varuna where he claimed a win in 2008. 

(With inputs from agencies)