Bangalore : The Congress Wednesday appeared set to emerge as the single largest party albeit with a slender majority in the 225-member Karnataka assembly as it took possible winning leads in 105 of the 220 seats for which votes were being counted.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led far behind in 40 seats, election officials said. Even the Janata Dal-Secular was ahead of the BJP in eight seats.

The Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) of former BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa was ahead of others in 11 constituencies.

The assembly has 224 elected and one nominated members. Election took place Sunday for 223 seats as election was cancelled in one constituency after the BJP candidate died.