The Indian National Congress party looks set for a resounding victory in the Karnataka state elections. Congress and its allies had won 137 seats out of 224, surpassing the 113 seats to form the government in the state by a comfortable margin.
State party president D K Shivakumar swept Kanakapura with over 70 per cent votes.
The Karnataka Assembly elections will boost the confidence for the Congress ahead of contests in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana later this year as well as the Sabha battle in 2024.
The party has called a key meeting at national party president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence for later today, where they are expected to pass a resolution leaving it to him to decide the person for the top job. Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister and leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah have both been eying the job, raising fears of an unpleasant stand-off within the party.
While most exit polls had given an edge to the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly polls, very few had predicted that it would go past the majority mark.
Speaking for the first time since the resounding performance of the Congress in Karnataka, senior leader Rahul Gandhi, while thanking the people of the state, said: “We fought with love and the people of Karnataka showed the country that it despises the politics of hate. I thank and congratulate the Congress party workers and leaders of the state.”
Congress’s success has been largely due to focus on local issues and avoiding getting entangled in Hindutva rhetoric.
Some in the BJP have already begun “soul searching” for reasons to which it can attribute its performance. Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “Despite the best efforts by PM Modi and cadres, we were not able to make a mark”. The BJP has won only 46 seats and is ahead in 18 more.
Karnataka stayed true to its 38-year trend of anti-incumbency despite a high-pitch campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a battery of Union ministers and Chief Ministers. PM Modi held 19 public meetings and six roadshows during the campaign.
Janata Dal Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy, whose party is leading in 20-plus seats, said, "I am a small party, there is no demand for me…I am hoping for a good development". The JDS was expected to be a kingmaker in case of hung assembly – a possibility a majority of exit polls had predicted.