Bengaluru, May 7: In the latest opinion poll released by ABP News-CSDS Lokniti, a hung assembly is predicted, with the Congress to emerge at the top. The BJP, meanwhile, has slipped behind as per the predictions, with a five per cent voteshare difference between the two parties.

The opinion poll predicts the Congress to bag between 90-102 seats in the 224-member assembly, whereas, the BJP could win 78-86. The JD(S) could play the kingmaker role, winning 36-44 seats, whereas, the independents are predicted to wrest four.

The pre-poll survey was conducted between April 27 to May 3. The sample size selected for the opinion poll comprised of 4,976 residents of Karnataka, spread over major constituencies across all the four administrative regions of the state.

Karnataka Elections 2018: ABP News-CSDS Lokniti Opinion Poll Results

Party Seats Predicted (2018) Seats Won (2013) Segments’ Swing
Congress 97 122 -25
BJP 84 40 +44
JD(S) 37 40 -3
Others 4 4 0

Vote-share:

- The survey claims the incumbent Congress would hold on to 38 per cent of the electoral share.

- The BJP is predicted to bag a total of 33 per cent of the votes. The five percentage point difference could lead to a major victory for the Congress, pollsters opined.

- The vote share of JD(S) is likely to be 22 per cent, the opinion poll claims.

Most preferred CM:

- 33 per cent of the respondents said they would prefer Siddaramaiah to continue as the Chief Minister.

- 27 per cent said BS Yeddyurappa would work as a better CM.

- 21 per cent said they would prefer to choose HD Kumaraswamy, the state unit chief of JD(S) as the new CM of Karnataka.

In the previous opinion poll released by ABP News-CSDS on April 25, the Congress was predicted to win 85-91, whereas, the BJP was expected to emerge the single largest, bagging 89-95 constituencies. The JD(S), meanwhile, was predicted to win between 32-38 seats.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2018 05:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).