Karnataka Assembly Elections: High-Voltage Campaigning Ends, Single-Phase Voting On May 10

. The Karnataka assembly will go to polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. The majority mark to form the government is 113 seats. The BJP which is facing an air of anti-incumbency factor, is eyeing a second term in the state and has exuded confidence in retaining power with a full majority.
The Lingayat and Vokkaliga voters will play a major factor in the elections. Lingayats comprise 17 percent of the population and Vokkaligas 11 percent. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the party will return to power with a full majority. Shah held a mega roadshow in Doddaballapura on Sunday. We will win the elections by full majority or at least half a mark plus 15 seats. In these four years, Yediyurappa and the Bommai government have done a lot of work, the Union Home Minister said.Source:- MSN
Significantly, Karnataka is the only state in the South where BJP is in power. With top leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah campaigning for the party, BJP put all its might to strengthen its support base.Rallies, Roadshows By Top Leaders  Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 19 public meetings and held six roadshows. Amit Shah held 16 public rallies and 14 roadshows. BJP chief JP Nadda held 10 public meetings and 16 roadshows. Hectic electioneering by leaders of various political parties saw BJP allowing Union Ministers and Chief Ministers to campaign with their full force while Congress putting its chief ministers including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as star campaigners.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held four election rallies and held a roadshow. Further, several union ministers including Nirmala Sithraman, Nitin Gadkari, S Jaishankar, Ashwini Vaishnav, Smriti Irani, and Jyotiraditya Scindia. BJP also pitted several chief ministers including UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde in the campaign fray of Karnataka.Attacks And Counter-Attacks The Congress on the other hand worked hard to wrest power from the BJP that is striving to break the 38-year-old pattern of alternating governments and retain its power in the state. Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge, held various roadshows, rallies, and election campaigns.
With the war of words between top guns of all the major political parties, the campaigns of the election of the southern citadel saw allegations and accusations flying thick and fast. Several issues of the state were promised to be solved.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday expressed confidence that BJP will win 135 seats in Karnataka polls and termed Congress as a drowning ship. Addressing a press conference on the last day of the campaign in Karnataka, the senior BJP leader said a double-engine government is essential for the development of the southern state.
Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah did roadshows and rallies. I am confident that we (BJP) will win 135 seats in the Karnataka Assembly election. Congress is a drowning ship, its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra won only 2-3 seats in Uttar Pradesh even after campaigning for 4-5 months, Yediyurappa said.
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