India election results 2024 live: Modi majority set to be slashed by opposition

The mood at the BJP office in Bengaluru is sombre.

Karnataka is one of the few states in southern India where the BJP has a strong foothold. In 2019, the party won 28 of the 29 parliament seats in the state. But the Congress party won the state election last year.

According to current trends, the BJP has won one seat and is leading in 15, while the Congress is ahead in 10.

State BJP leaders have tried to keep party workers enthused. “We will win. Narendra Modi will be prime minister,” Dr CN Ashwath Narayan told them today.

In Hassan, Prajwal Revanna, an MP from the ruling NDA alliance who has been arrested for alleged rape and sexual abuse, is trailing behind his Congress rival Shreyas Patel by over 22,000 votes.

His uncle HD Kumaraswamy, a former state chief minister and leader of the Janata Dal (Secular), has established a huge lead in Mandya over his Congress rival Venkatarame Gowda.

The mood isn’t upbeat at the Congress party office either, which is bereft of party workers. The Congress was hoping to win at least 15 seats in the state but some of its candidates are trailing, including in the key seat of Mysore.