The Congress will not only retain the power in Karnataka but also improve its seat tally in the upcoming assembly election to be held on May 12, according to a pre-poll survey conducted by C-Fore.
The Congress will win 126 seats this election, claimed the agency.
The BJP is likely to win 70 seats this year as compared to 40 in 2013. The JD(S) tally, on the other hand, will drop from 40 to 27.
This is the second survey conducted in nine months by the same agency, which had earlier predicted that Siddaramaiah-led "Congress will win the polls if the elections were to be held today” in Karnataka.
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In August last year, C-Fore, a research organisation, had claimed that the Congress might win 120 to 132 seats, while the BJP, which has been trying hard to oust Siddaramaiah, would finish second with 60 to 72 seats. The JD(S) might win 24 to 30 seats in the 225-member assembly, reported The Indian Express.
The latest survey, commissioned by the Congress as reported by News18, was conducted between March 1 and 25 and spoke to 22,357 voters across 154 assembly constituencies.
News18 added that the respondents were spread across 2,368 polling booths covering 326 urban and 977 rural locations.
C-Fore claims that its projections were most accurate in terms of vote share and seats projected for different parties in the last Karnataka assembly polls.
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In 2013, C-Fore had predicted that the Congress will win 119-120 seats and it ended up with 122. The Congress will improve its vote share by 9% and end up with 46% of the vote.
The report added that 44% of the men surveyed supported the Congress, while 33% backed the BJP and 17% were with the JD(S). Women too supported the Congress, with 48% of them are saying they will vote for the ruling party, while 29% are with the BJP, 14% said they would vote for the JD (S).
The predictions could be a setback for BJP chief Amit Shah, who has been saying BS Yeddyurappa will return to the power.
On Monday, Shah began his two-day tour of poll-bound Karnataka by visiting and seeking blessings of Sri Shivakumara Swami of Siddhaganga Mutt in Tumakuru, a revered seer of the Lingayat community.
Shah's meeting with the seer is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the Lingayats/Veeshaivas, who are numerically and politically powerful in the state and form a major voter base for the BJP.
(With agency inputs)
