VOTERS in the southern Indian state of Karnataka went to the polls today as pre-election surveys showed the opposition Congress party likely to beat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu chauvinist BJP.

The votes for 224 state legislature seats will be counted on Saturday and the outcome is likely to be an indicator of voter sentiment ahead of national elections expected by May next year.

Bengaluru, the state capital, is India’s information technology hub.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is battling to retain the only southern state where it has ever won power. 

The BJP strongholds are in northern, central and western India, while opposition parties rule the other southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The BJP is battling to limit its losses as voters are expected to punish the party for inflation, allegations of corruption and poor infrastructure development in the state.

Political analyst A Narayana said that public feeling against the state’s BJP government is running high.

“If this anger somehow translates into voting, the BJP has reasons to worry and the Congress has reasons to rejoice,” he said.

Fellow expert Sandeep Shastri agreed with this assessment, saying: “The Congress has its nose ahead.”

A BJP win would put senior Congress figure Rahul Gandhi’s popularity in question, but if the main opposition party prevails, the credit will go to Mr Gandhi for his crucial campaigning in Karnataka.

In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, with 104 seats, followed by Congress with 78 seats and Janata Dal (Secular) with 37. 

The BJP formed the government 15 months later after legislators from other parties defected to it.

The party’s image has been harmed by the suicide of a government contractor earlier this year and the arrest of a legislator who was caught accepting bribes.