BJP 14, Congress 10 in Karnataka: Bangalore institute's exit poll

Bangalore, May 12 (IANS) A exit poll survey conducted by a city-based political research institute has shown BJP winning 14 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies across Karnataka, Congress 10 and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) four.

"We conducted the survey in 50 polling booths in each of the assembly segment covering 400 booths in every parliamentary constituency across the state for our exit poll," Creative Centre for Social and Political Studies (COPS) co-coordinator G. Madhusudhan told IANS here.

The survey has also revealed that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested in all 28 seats, failed to make impact on the electorate in the state, as it drew blank.

"Our exit poll has shown AAP not getting even 10 percent of the total votes polled across state, as its awareness among the people was little beyond cities," Madhusudhan said.

Around 67 percent of the 46-million electorate voted April 17 across the state where general elections were held in a single phase for the first time in many years.

In the 2009 general elections, BJP had won 19, Congress six and JD-S three.

In the high-profile Bangalore South, the survey showed BJP's five-time winner H.N. Ananth Kumar would retain the seat, overcoming the challenge posed by Infosys co-founder and technocrat Nandan Nilekani of Congress.

In Bangalore Central, however, Congress candidate Rizwan Arshad has been projected to wrest the seat from BJP's outgoing lawmaker P.C. Mohan.

"In this constituency, our survey showed AAP candidate and former Infosys director V. Balakrishnan at fourth position behind Nandini Alva of JD-S," Madhusudhan claimed.

In Bangalore North, BJP is expected to retain the seat where its former chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda contested.

According to the exit poll, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win in Chikkodi, Bijapur, Koppal, Bellary (reserved-ST), Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere, Shimoga, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Tumkur and Mysore, besides two in Bangalore.

Congress is projected to win in Belgaum, Bagalkot, Gulbarga (reserved-SC), Raichur (reserved-ST), Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga (reserved-SC), Chamarajanagar (reserved-SC) and Bangalore Rurual in addition to Bangalore Central.

JD-S is expected to win in Hassan, Chikaballapur, Kolar and Mandya.

Former prime minister and JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda contested from Hassan, while his younger son and former state chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy contested from Chikaballapur against union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily of Congress.

"In each booth, we asked about 100 voters, both men and women, whom they voted for without asking their names. They were also asked to rate the performance of the year-old Congress government in the state and their expectation from BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on a scale of 1:10," Madhusudhan said.

The survey indicated 59 percent of the voters were satisfied with the Siddaramaiah government, while 31 percent were disappointed and 10 percent did not respond.

"Voters, however, favoured BJP in general and Modi in particular to form the next government at the national level. About 70 percent of the people rated Modi at seven on a scale of 10 on performance level," Madhusudhan added.

The institute deployed 5,700 of its volunteers who spoke to 11.2-lakh voters for the survey after polling April 17 across the state.