The Congress - Janata Dal (Secular) coalition has lost huge ground to the BJP in Karnataka as the saffron party is set to increase its seats in the state from 16 in the current Lok Sabha to 24 seats. This could be the party’s best ever performance.
This also means that Karnataka would have contributed highest number of seats to the BJP in south India. The Congress is staring at its worst performance in Lok Sabha elections from Karnataka this time, with its nominees leading in just two of the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
Congress's coalition partner Janata Dal (Secular) and a BJP backed independent are leading in one constituency each.
BJP's previous highest tally was 19 seats during 2009 elections and Congress's worst tally was 5 seats in 1996. In the outgoing Lok Sabha, Congress had 10 members from Karnataka and JD(S) had two, while BJP had 16.