The much-awaited vote counting day for the Karnataka 2023 Assembly elections is here. With postal ballots being counted first, early trends show that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leading in 54 constituencies, Congress in 46 and the Janata Dal (Secular) in 16 seats, according to TV9 Kannada. In Udupi, Congress candidate Prasad Raj Kanchan was leading over Yashpal Suvarna of BJP, while BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi was trailing in Gokak.
Former CM Jagadish Shettar who recently switched to Congress was trailing in Hubballi-Dharwad Central, while BJP's ST Somashekar was trailing in Yeshwantpur. BJP leader V Somanna was trailing in both Varuna and Chamarajanagar.
With 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, a party needs 113 seats to form the government. The 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections threw up a fractured mandate, with the BJP emerging the single largest party, winning 104 seats. The Congress won 78 seats while the JD(S) picked up 37 seats. BS Yediyurappa was invited to form the government and was sworn in as Chief Minister. But he stepped down three days later, just before the trust vote. The Congress and JD(S) came together to form the coalition government with HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister.
However, this government lasted only 13 months, until 17 MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) defected to the BJP in July 2019. The BJP’s numbers in the Assembly increased to 120 seats, while Congress was reduced to 69 and JD(S) to 32. While Yediyurappa returned as CM, he stepped down in 2021, and was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai.
This time, the Congress campaign was focussed on the failings of the incumbent BJP. The BJP sought to counter this by invoking the personality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the power of ‘double engine’ government. The JD(S), meanwhile, appealed for a rejection of both national parties.
For the first time, five independent news organisations — The News Minute, The Caravan, Newslaundry, Scroll and The Wire are coming together on May 13 to give you all the updates about the elections, without noise and with our ears to the ground.
Watch our live coverage of the Karnataka election results here: