Counting of votes will be taken up tomorrow for the Karnataka Assembly elections, which pollsters have said would likely go down to the wire, with a neck and neck race between the state's ruling Congress and challenger BJP.
Several exit polls have predicted a hung Assembly, and said former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's JD(S) would play the role of the kingmaker.
In one of the most high-profile and bitterly fought elections in recent times, 222 of the 224 seats went to polls on May 12.
Polling for R R Nagar seat was deferred on account of alleged electoral malpractices, while it was countermanded in Jayanagar seat following the death of the BJP candidate.
Counting of votes would begin at 8 am in nearly 40 counting centres, election office sources said.
The trends are likely to begin to trickle within an hour and all results are expected to be declared by late evening.
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In case of a clear verdict in favour of the Congress, the grand old party will have broken the jinx of no political party retaining the reins of the state since 1985, when the erstwhile Janata Dal formed the government under Ramakrishna Hegde for a second consecutive term.
It is, however, unclear if Siddaramaiah, a backward class leader with a formidable reputation, will be the next chief minister in the event of a Congress victory.
Though the Congress had said he would be its face in the elections, it stopped short of declaring him the party's chief ministerial candidate.
Siddaramaiah caused a political flutter when he said yesterday that he was ready to make way for a Dalit chief minister if the Congress high command so decided, a statement many felt was aimed at keeping the JD(S) in good humour so as to stitch an alliance in case of a fractured mandate.
Siddramaiah is a former JD(S) man and his ties with Deve Gowda's party continue to be strained.
"I am confident that the Congress would win the elections with a majority and I would be the CM," Siddaramaiah had told journalists earlier.
However, when asked yesterday if he was ready to make way for a Dalit leader as chief minister, he said,"I have no objection. I am not against anybody but the decision has to be left to the high command."