Congress set for decisive victory in Karnataka, BJP facing defeat in its only southern state

NEWS WAVE INDIA: The Congress party in India is poised to win power in the southern state of Karnataka, ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from its only southern state in a major boost to the grand old party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

As results from the May 10 elections made the BJP’s defeat increasingly apparent, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai virtually conceded defeat and said the party had not been able to make the mark “in spite of a lot of effort put in by everyone, including the prime minister and workers of the party”.

According to the latest trends on the Election Commission website, the Congress is winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in the state, comfortably over the magic number of 113, and the BJP in 64. The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which was hoping to be kingmaker, is leading in 20 seats.

The Muslim vote, which accounted for nearly 13% of the electorate, has also helped the Congress party.

For the Congress party, this was the moment they had been waiting for as they desperately look to reverse their electoral fortunes and position themselves as the main opposition player in 2024.

“This result in Karnataka elections will be a stepping stone for Congress victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” senior leader Siddaramaiah, who could be the state’s next chief minister, told reporters.

“I hope Rahul Gandhi will become the country’s prime minister in 2024,” he added. KPCC president D K Shivakumar, who is the other contender for the chief minister’s post, was equally effusive in his praise of the Gandhi family.

BJP leaders were contemplative in defeat as they had hoped to break a 38-year jinx of Karnataka not voting an incumbent to power. “We will do a detailed analysis as the results conclude. We will take these results in our stride and try to reorganise the party for next year’s Lok Sabha elections,” Bommai said.

The BJP’s vote share slipped from 36.22 in the last assembly election to 35.7%, according to Election Commission of India trends. The Congress’ vote share has gone up from 38.04% to a possible 43%.

Hoping for a win that would make his party a key player come government formation, JD-S leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy visited the Shri Basaveshwara Gayatri temple to offer prayers.

Counting for the elections, which witnessed a record turnout of 73.19%, began at 8 am across 36 centres. Elaborate security arrangements were made across the state, particularly in and around the counting centres, to avoid any untoward incidents, official sources said.

Most exit polls had predicted a tight contest between the Congress and BJP. Several pollsters gave an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung assembly.

“A government with full majority” was the strong pitch of leaders of all political parties during the high-decibel, no holds barred campaigning that ended on Monday.

The stress was on a clear mandate to form a strong and stable government, unlike 2018 when BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats. The Congress had 80 seats and JD-S 37. There was also one independent member, while the BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) had one seat each.

In conclusion, the Congress party is set to win the election in Karnataka, which is its first victory in any major Indian state since losing power at the national level to the BJP in 2014.