"Confident of victory, HD Kumaraswamy says, "Our BJP friends will get minimum of 20 seats"
Bengaluru: As the country waits for the results of the 18th Lok Sabha elections amidst the counting of votes, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy expressed confidence in his victory and asserted that his party will win comfortably along with the Bhartiya Janta Party.
Speaking with the reporters, HD Kumaraswamy said, "We are going to win comfortably. All three candidates of our party will win."
He added, "And not only our candidates but our BJP friends also will get a minimum of 20 seats."
Notably, JD(S) and BJP fought the 2024 general elections together in Karnataka. According to a seat-sharing arrangement in the NDA, BJP is contesting on 25 seats and JD(S) on three seats out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. The exit polls on June 1 predicted the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning most of the seats in Congress-ruled Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections and the Congress not putting up a good show.
Around 642 million people voted in Lok Sabha elections held over seven phases in a mammoth six-week period. The counting of votes began starting with postal ballot papers amid tight security. The counting for State Legislative Assemblies of 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 147 Assembly constituencies in Odisha and results of bypolls in 25 Assembly constituencies also began.
Strict security has been put in place for the smooth conduct of counting of votes for over 8,000 candidates in this general election. With counting began for the Lok Sabha elections, which have seen the largest voter participation, the electoral fate of several leaders across the political spectrum will be decided.
Two exit polls predicted the BJP would also improve its numbers from the 303 seats it won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Congress party and its allies dismissed the exit polls as "orchestrated" and a work of "fantasy", asserting that the opposition INDIA bloc will form the next government at the Centre.
In the 2019 elections, NDA wrested 353 seats, of which the BJP won 303 alone. The Opposition's UPA got only 93 seats of which the Congress got 52.
