Bengaluru, 4 June

The BJP was ahead in 17 seats, Congress in eight and JD(S) in three as per initial counting trends in 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka on Tuesday, according to Election Commission officials.

Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing allegations of sexually abusing several women and also recording them, was leading. He has already been suspended by the JD(S).

JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi (BJP) were ahead in the Mandya and Dharwad Lok Sabha segments, respectively, according to official sources.

Also leading in the initial rounds were erstwhile Mysuru royal family scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar of BJP in Mysore, party veteran B S Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra in Shimoga, saffron party senior leader and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shetttar from Belgaum and BJP leader Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore South).

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani was trailing in Gulbarga.

Former Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri (BJP) and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai (BJP) had taken early lead in Uttara Kannada and Haveri segments, respectively.

Among those trailing are expelled BJP leader K S Eshwarappa and film star Shivrajkumar's wife Geetha Shivrajkumar of Congress in Shimoga.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's brother and MP D K Suresh was also trailing against eminent cardiologist and former PM H D Deve Gowda's son-in-law Dr C N Manjunath of BJP from Bangalore Rural, according to initial counting trends.

Karnataka is the most important State for the BJP in south India as it's only here that it had held power in the past.

The Congress won a mere one seat out of the total 28 in the State in the 2019 general elections. The BJP had swept the previous Lok Sabha elections bagging 25 seats, while an independent backed by it also won.

The JD(S), headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, had emerged victorious in one constituency. The Congress and the JD(S) were running a coalition government back then and had fought the election together.

The regional outfit joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September last year and fought the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP, and is contesting in three seats -- Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.