Counting of votes is underway for the heated Karnataka 2023 Assembly elections. As of 1 pm, Congress was leading in 128 constituencies, while the BJP was leading in 66, the Janata Dal (Secular) in 22 and independents in 4 seats, according to the Election Commission of India.
Incumbent Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai maintained a massive lead in his homebase Shiggaon constituency while DK Shivakumar won from Kanakapura constituency. Gali Janardhan Reddy, the mining baron accused of large-scale corruption, has also won from the Gangavathi constituency.
BJP minister Sriramulu tasted defeat in Ballari Rural, while the party’s National General Secretary CT Ravi was trailing in Chikkamagaluru constituency. Former Karnataka CM Jagadish Shettar, who had switched from BJP to Congress days before the election, was also trailing in Hubballi - Dharwad Central constituency.
UT Khader, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Rizwan Arshad, were among several winning candidates of the Congress party.
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, when 17 MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S), led by Ramesh Jarkiholi, 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.
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