Karnataka Election Results: Congress all set to form govt comfortably, BJP accepts defeat

The results for the May 10 elections indicate the Congress is comfortably returning to power driving away a possibility of the grand old party tying up with the JDS to cobble up the numbers in case of a hung assembly.

As per the latest poll results trends, the Congress is leading in 138 seats, 25 more than the majority mark 113.

The BJP, which had failed to get the majority even in the 2018 elections, ended up winning only 62 seats, leaving 20 for the JDS and 4 for Others.

Congress strongman DK Shivakumar, who led the party's Karnataka campaign, turned emotional in his victory address to the media.

"Credit goes to my party cadres and workers. They have worked hard... It was a collective leadership," Shivakumar, who is the front runner to become the new Chief Minister along with Siddaramaiah, said.

Though the BJP had failed to get a full majority in 2018 in Karnataka, where the country's 'Silicon Valley' Bengaluru is located, the saffron party returned to power with various switch overs from the Congress and JDS in 2021.

To avoid any desertions, the Congress is cautious this time as it has asked all MLA-elects to reach Bengaluru by evening. The party is also planning to fly all MLA-elects to opposition-ruled Tamil Nadu, which is run by the regional satrap DMK.

Meanwhile, Karnataka's outgoing Chief Minister and BJP leader, Basavaraj Bommai, accepted defeat and said, "In spite of a lot of efforts put in by PM and BJP workers, we've not been able to make the mark.

"Once the full results come we'll do a detailed analysis. We take this result in our stride to come back in Lok Sabha elections."