Karnataka election result 2018: Siddaramaiah meets Governor, resigns as CM

The Karnataka Assembly election 2018 result is close to being known as vote counting is underway on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally blitz in the state poised to pay off. According to official Election Commission figures as of 16:11 pm, the BJP was leading in 26 seats and had won 78 seats, the Congress was leading in 30 seats and had won 48, the Janata Dal (Secular) was leading in 14 seats and had won 23, the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party had won one seat, the Bahujan Samaj Party won one seat, and the independents were leading in one seat. Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah has submitted his resignation to the Governor of Karnataka.

A record 72.36 per cent of the 50.7 million (5.07 crore) electorate cast their votes, with 27,908 electors in defence services exercising their franchise through postal ballots.
The Election Commission has deployed 16,662 personnel for counting of votes amid tight security. "Postal ballots will be counted first before the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are opened," Kumar said.

Meanwhile, four of the seven polling agencies predicted in their exit polls that the BJP would emerge as the single-largest party today. While most exit polls predicted a hung Assembly with the BJP ahead, two said the BJP would either come very close to or cross the halfway mark of 112 seats, while the India Today-Axis exit poll said the Congress might bag a majority. All exit polls gave the H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) nearly two dozen seats or more, which could make it the kingmaker if there is a hung Assembly.