A Lingayat heavyweight, Mr Shettar lost to the BJP's Mahesh Tenginakai by over 34,000 votes but claimed his quitting the BJP and raising the pitch on the Lingayats helped the Congress in 20 to 25 seats.
According to the Election Commission of India, the majority mark to form the government is 113 seats. A total of 42,48,028 new voters have been registered to vote for the assembly elections.
Karnataka Assembly polls: Voting begins; high stakes for BJP, Congress aninews.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aninews.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bengaluru: The polling for the Karnataka Assembly elections began amid tight security on Wednesday. The voting started at 7 am and will continue till 6