With trends showing a lead for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 11 of the 15 constituencies going to polls in Karnataka, senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar said on December 9 that the party had to "agree the mandate of the people".

"We have to agree the mandate of the people... we have accepted defeat but there is no need to be dis-heartened," Shivakumar said, according to CNN-News18.

"By-elections and general elections both are different. Congress has a stronghold in Karnataka, it will not vanish," Shivakumar added.

Initial trends showed the Congress and JD(S) were ahead in two seats while an independent candidate was maintaining lead in Hoskote.

The bypolls were held to fill vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs, whose revolt led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for BJP to come to power.

The BJP needs to win at least six of the 15 seats to remain in majority in the 225-member assembly including the Speaker, who has a casting vote), which would still have two vacant seats - Maski and R R Nagar.

In the assembly with the current strength of 208 after disqualifications, the BJP has 105 MLAs (including an independent), the Congress 66 and the JD(S) has 34 MLAs. There is also one BSP member, a nominated member and the Speaker.

Twelve of the 15 seats were held by the Congress and three by JD(S).

The outcome of the bypoll, which recorded 67.91 percent polling, is crucial for the survival of the BJP government.