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India Today’s Karnataka Roundtable: Setting the Agenda for Battle 2023
Mumbai: India Today’s Karnataka Roundtable 2023 brings together political heavyweights, industrialists and celebrities before the crucial state assembly polls on 10 May.
Organised by the India Today Group, the country’s largest media conglomerate, the Karnataka Roundtable will be held on 22 April in Bengaluru. The roundtable will cover a wide range of topics critical to the state elections, from the resurgence of Congress to reservation politics, polarisation to corruption.
Among the speakers for the Karnataka Roundtable are Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai, Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Leader of Opposition, Siddaramaiah, Congress president D K Shivakumar, Lingayat seer Basavarajendra Mrityunjaya Swami, among others.
The Roundtable will feature a host of sessions throughout the day, including ‘Karnataka Today, India Tomorrow,’ ‘The Battle for Karnataka,’ ‘Bengaluru Dreams or Dust,’ ‘Anyone for a slice of reservation,’ ‘BJP’s war for the south,’ ‘Karnataka’s war on corruption,’ ‘Namma Modi BJP’s gamechanger,’ and more.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will kick-off the event with his take on ‘Karnataka Today, India Tomorrow’, while the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai, will speak on ‘The Battle for Karnataka.’ Mallikarjun Kharge, the President of the Indian National Congress, will focus on ‘Victory at ‘Hand’ and D K Shivakumar, the president of Karnataka Congress, will speak on his role as ‘Karnataka’s Chanakya.’
Additionally, former Karnataka CM’s Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy will participate in discussions titled ‘Roar of a Challenger’ and ‘Kingmaker or Crown’. Other noteworthy speakers include the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, who will discuss ‘Namma Modi BJP’s gamechanger,’ and Tejasvi Surya, MP Lok Sabha, BJP, and Dinesh Gundu Rao, Congress MLA, who will debate on ‘Delivery Dangal: What Karnataka Wants.’ Congress’ in-charge for Karnataka, Randeep Surjewala, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, will speak on ‘Who does Karnataka trust more.’
A panel discussion titled ‘Anyone for a slice of reservation’ will feature Lingayat seer Basavarajendra Mrityunjaya Swami, Karnataka Backward Class Commission chairman, K Jayaprakash Hegde, Chairman, BJP MLA Arvind Bellad, and Congress MLA NA Harris. Air Deccan founder Capt Gopinath will speak on ‘Bengaluru Dreams or Dust?’
Minister C. N. Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee president Mohammed Haris Nalapad, Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy and BJP MLC Tejaswini Gowda will be part of a roundtable discussion titled ‘Youth Nataka: Hungry and Restless.’
The Kannada film industry basking in the glory of recent smash-hits like KGF-2 will celebrate its achievements in a discussion on ‘Sandalwood Soaring: Kannada Cinema’s fightback’ featuring actor and former Member of Parliament Ramya. The debate will move on to ‘BJP’s War for the South’ with K Annamalai, President of Tamil Nadu BJP and a talk on ‘Karnataka’s War on Corruption’ by Lok Ayukta, Justice B S Patil.
The India Today Group has been a custodian of excellence and credibility for over four-decades. With multiple brands and platforms, the Group has established itself as a leader in media. ITG’s unwavering focus on journalistic and editorial excellence and its constant innovation has made it the Gold Standard of Journalism. The Group has continued to set the benchmark for trust, integrity, and excellence across television, publishing, digital, and other platforms.
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UDF poised to return to power in Kerala, says Manorama-CVoter survey
Massive opinion poll projects shift in Kerala politics ahead of 2026 Assembly elections.
MUMBAI: The winds of change appear to be blowing through Kerala’s political landscape and this time, they seem to favour the United Democratic Front. A comprehensive mega opinion survey conducted by Manorama News in partnership with CVoter projects a potential comeback for the UDF in the upcoming Kerala Legislative Assembly Elections 2026. The survey, covering all 140 constituencies with a massive sample size of nearly 90,000 respondents, predicts the UDF could win between 69 and 81 seats.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) is expected to secure 57 to 69 seats, a significant drop from the 99 seats it won in the 2021 elections. This would mean the LDF losing 30 to 42 of its sitting seats. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which drew a blank in 2021, is projected to open its account with 1 to 5 seats.
Region-wise, the UDF is expected to make strong gains in Malabar, winning 25 to 34 out of 48 seats, and in Central Kerala, where it could bag 29 to 33 out of 53 seats. In South Kerala, the LDF is likely to retain an edge with 21 to 25 seats, while the UDF may improve to 12 to 16 seats. The NDA could pick up 1 to 3 seats in the southern region.
The survey was conducted between 14 and 26 March 2026, with additional tracker and snap polls carried out from December 2025 to March 2026. A total of 89,693 respondents participated, ensuring representation across all demographics and social segments.
Manorama News has a strong track record of accuracy, with its previous projections closely matching the actual results of the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2021 Kerala Assembly polls.
In Kerala’s famously fierce political battles, this survey suggests the pendulum may be swinging back. Whether the final verdict matches these numbers or throws up another surprise, one thing is clear, the 2026 Assembly elections are shaping up to be one of the most keenly watched contests in the state’s history.
