With Congress surging past the halfway mark in Karnataka, the hopes of JD(S) to emerge as a kingmaker seems to have dashed.
Hours into the counting of votes, trends are not favourable for the party, as it leads in just 26 seats, as of 11:30 am. This is far below the 37 seats it bagged in 2018. The vote share too isn't encouraging for the party as it currently is around 13 per cent, as compared to the 20 per cent in 2018.
Adding to the woes is that Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of JD(S) chief and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, is struggling against the Congress candidate in Ramanagara seat. While Nikhil was initially trailing behind Cong's H A Iqbal Hussain, he later managed to gain a slight lead of over 3,000 votes.
However, JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy has a strong lead in the Channapatna Assembly constituency.
Though exit polls had predicted that the JD(S) would emerge a kingmakers in the wake of a hung verdict, Kumaraswamy himself, hours before the counting, had said that the JD(S) was a small party and he was only looking for development.
"In the next 2-3 hours, it will become clear. Exit polls show that the two national parties will score in a big way. The exit polls have given 30-32 seats to JD(S). I am a small party, there is no demand for me...I am hoping for a good development," he added.
