Karnataka: Living up to tradition, Karnataka voters discarded the ruling party thus enabling the Congress Party to come to power after a gap of five years with a landslide victory, today. Since 1985, voters in Karnataka have stuck to the policy of ousting the party in power, and they kept alive this trend this time too.
All exit polls had given the Congress Party the pole position, and the voters proved them correct this time. The votes were counted and the results were declared today after the election was held on May 10, 2023, to elect 224 members of the State Legislative Assembly. The election saw a voter turnout of 73.19%, which was the highest ever recorded in the history of Legislative Assembly elections in Karnataka, and enough indication of the prevailing anti-incumbency against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
At the time of going to the press, the Congress Party had won 135 of the total 224 Assembly Seats and was leading in one – a gain of 56 seats from the last state elections. The BJP could win only 65 seats – a loss of 39 seats, while the Janata Dal (Secular) clinched 19 seats – a loss of 18 seats. The poll outcome came as a setback to the JD(S) dreams of emerging as a kingmaker as it hoped for a hung Assembly. In the last 25 years – 1999, 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2018, only two elections had produced a clear mandate – 1999 and 2013.
The Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha as well as the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha respectively won one seat each while two Independents also emerged victorious.
As mentioned in earlier reports, Global Bihari did point out that in the current elections, the Congress Party had emerged stronger and united. The biggest factor was that the party has two strong chief ministerial candidates: Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar, while the BJP struggled to put up a CM face and the ‘family-owned’ JD(S) had to pick one from the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda clan.
Today’s Congress victory in Karnataka at a time when the Parliamentary elections are less than a year away is a boost for the party as the win would provide it access to resources it desperately needs to run its national campaign ahead of 2024. The All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, said in a series of tweets that “Right now, we have won the battle, we have to win the war. If you win the war, then the country will be safe and Democracy shall be protected”. He added that “this is truly the victory of the People of Karnataka. They have voted for their progressive future, their welfare and social justice”.
– global bihari bureau
Good to see that there is a tilt towards the Opposition. A too strong BJP (or for that matter any party being too strong) is always bad for Democracy.
When the parties are wary of each other, the common people are exploited that much less.
Anti-Incumbency is the finest balancing factor which keeps fear of losing alive in the arrogant and ruthless political class.