Congress leaves BJP behind in initial counting trends for Karnataka Assembly polls

Opposition Congress in Karnataka forged ahead of its rival, the ruling BJP, according to the initial trends of counting of votes polled for the May 10 Assembly elections.

The Mallikarjun Kharge-led party was leading in 82 seats and the BJP in 66.

The JD(S), led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, gained an early lead in 21 segments.

However, earlier the ruling BJP was slightly ahead of the Congress in early trends as the counting of votes was taken up for the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday.

As per the latest trends, the BJP was ahead in 41, the Congress 36 and JD (S) in 13.

Postal ballots were being counted initially.

The elections to the 224-member Assembly were held on May 10.