The party was also leading in at least 30 more seats and may just fall short of the halfway mark of 112 for a simple majority.
The Congress, the other national party, won 35 seats and led in 37 constituencies while JD(S) remained a distant third bagging ten and leading in 21 seats. In the previous elections, BJP and Congress had won 79 and 65 seats respectively while JDS got 58.
Others and Independents won three seats and were leading in seven. BJP's performance was significant as it put up a good show in virtually all the regions except some pockets in the south, considered the stronghold of JD(S).
The victory was sweeter for BJP which had the ignominy of heading a seven-day government after flip-flops in its ties with JD(S) which pulled the rug from its under feet late last year.
BJP Chief Ministerial nominee B S Yeddyurappa, former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh( Congress) and KPCC President M Mallikarjun Kharge were among others who maintained comfortable leads over their respective rivals.
Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) won Ramanagaram seat for the second consecutive time beating his nearest BJP rival M Rudresh. Congress's Mamata Nichhani, daughter of former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde was in the third position.
Former minister and Congress heavyweight R V Deshpande lost the Haliyal seat to JDS's Sunil Hegde by a margin of 5,425 votes.
