WATCH | Celebration begins at Congress office in Delhi ahead of Karnataka Election Results

Drum beats were in full swing at the Congress office in Delhi, even as the results of the assembly elections in Karnataka are yet to be announced on May 13 today. This is when even the first trend of the Karnataka polls is not out. Notably, the Exit polls announced after the voting to the Karnataka assembly elections 2023 got over, BJP and the Congress were in a tight race however the grand old party had an edge over the saffron party but still could not muster up a majority.

The Congress workers at the party office in Delhi were seen chanting slogans and beating drums even as the counting in the Karnataka elections 2023 has not begun. 

#WATCH | Celebration begins at the Congress office in Delhi ahead of the counting of votes for the 224 seats in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections held on May 10.#KarnatakaElectionResults2023 pic.twitter.com/FCSZrwv01C

— ANI (@ANI)

Exit polls: Tight race between Congress - BJP 

While the Republic-PMARQ exit poll predicted that the Congress party will emerge as the single-largest party with the BJP likely to come in second and Janata Dal (Secular) may just get enough seats to be a kingmaker, the poll of polls projected a neck and neck fight between the two national parties. 

In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP managed to win 104 seats out of 224 whereas the Congress won in 78 constituencies, ending up as the second-largest party. The Janata Dal-Secular (JDS), meanwhile, finished third with 38 seats. According to Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer, the voter turnout of 73.19% was recorded as the highest ever for Karnataka since the state was formed. A total of 5,31,33,054 people voted on May 10 out of which 11.71 lakh people were first-time voters.