Bangaluru, April 25: The Congress is all set to come back to power in Karnataka, trouncing the BJP, which spent the entire period of the power people gave it, with internal squabbles and corruption charges.

According to a pre-poll survey conducted by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for CNN-IBN and The Week in 294 locations of 75 constituencies spread across Karnataka a total of 4,198 people were interviewed and the results reveal that Congress is all set to trounce the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and storm into power with a clear majority.

With an overwhelming lead of almost 14 percentage points in vote share over the BJP, the Congress (37 per cent vote share) is likely to secure 117-129 seats in the 224-member Assembly, says the survey. According to the survey the BJP will secure just 23 per cent of votes and win 39-49 seats, a huge fall from its 2008 victory when Karnataka became India’s first southern state to have a BJP government.

Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, who quit the BJP and formed Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), is expected to hit his former party hard, looking set to secure seven per cent of the votes, while the Janata Dal Secular (JDS), with 20 per cent votes, will bag 34-44 seats, according to the survey. The other smaller parties and independents are likely to secure 13 per cent of the votes and win 14-22 seats.