Karnataka Assembly Polls 2018 Results: Counting underway at Davanagere North, Davanagere South, Mayakonda, Channagiri, Honnali, Shimoga Rural, Bhadravathi, Shimoga, Tirthahalli, Shikaripura, Sorab, Sagar, Byndoor, Kundapura, Udupi

BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP crossed the halfway mark within the first three hours of counting during Karnataka Assembly Polls Results 2018. The party is now set to form the government, leading in more than 121 seats. The Congress, which got an early lead, could barely hold on to 57 seats. JDS+ also secured a lead in 42 seats. BJP candidate Yeddyurappa is leading From Shikaripura. Incumbent Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah trailed behind in Chamundeshwari and maintained a small lead in Badami seats.

Early during the counting of Karnataka Results 2018, Congress established a lead, with BJP trailing behind. Later, BJP surged ahead. The flip-flop between the two parties when on for a while, till BJP surged ahead. 

In this Karnataka Results blog, we bring you the latest updates from the following 15 constituencies: Davanagere North, Davanagere South, Mayakonda, Channagiri, Honnali, Shimoga Rural, Bhadravathi, Shimoga, Tirthahalli, Shikaripura, Sorab, Sagar, Byndoor, Kundapura, Udupi. A clear trend of Karnataka election results will start emerging by afternoon. 

Watch the live streaming of Karnataka assembly election results 2018 on Zee News

The Election Commission has deployed 16,662 personnel for counting of votes amid tight security. There are three flying squads in every constituency, 154 general observers, 136 expenditure observers, 34 police observers, 10,000 micro observers, 3.2 lakh polling personnel and members of the Central police forces in all polling stations.

Over 72 per cent of the 4.94-crore strong electorate in Karnataka voted on Saturday, May 12, the highest voter turnout in the last 35 years. 

The fates of over 2,600 candidates, contesting from 222 seats out of 224-assembly constituencies,  including 216 women candidates, will be out by the end of the day. 

Elections in two constituencies in Bengaluru District, Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, were postponed earlier. 

Siddaramaiah-led Congress, which is eyeing a second consecutive term in the state, fought in all 222 constituencies. The BJP, which is eyeing the 22nd state in its kitty, also fought from 222 constituencies. BS Yeddyurappa is BJP's chief ministerial candidate. The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) fielded candidates for 201 seats while its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contested from 21 seats. There were 1,155 Independents and about 800 candidates from national, regional and fringe parties.