Will the winning party require permutation, combination to form a government in Karnataka?

I don’t think there’s a big room for that.

Congress, BJP and JD(S) are the three major parties in Karnataka and the rest are independent candidates. The ideologue difference between these three major parties is big. So it’s very unlikely that one is going to support the other under any circumstance. If no party wins the clear majority, it would be a hung assembly. In that case, we could see either chance of re-election or money politics to buy independent candidates, which isn’t something new for both BJP and Congress.

But then again, this situation is not going to arise. Whichever party wins, it will win by clear majority. Hardly do we see such elections where the fight is so tough yet the fight won’t be close. Siddaramaiah is carrying anti-incumbency over his shoulder. Nobody trusts Congress now. BJP’s failure on delivering on promises on the national level has made people rethink over their decisions. And JD(S), even with noble ideas, they aren’t popular—because they are clearly no match for other two parties when talking about election fund.

As it stands right now, if exit polls are to be believed, BJP will win the majority in Karnataka. And the trends we’re seeing now in vote counting, BJP is forming a government in yet another state. There’s no need to do permutation combination and form an alliance.

Good news for the Bhakts. For the rest, oh well…