In a significant victory for the Indian National Congress, the party has returned to power in the southern state of Karnataka after 10 years, effectively ending the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) monopoly on southern India. Voters decisively backed the Congress, providing the grand old party with much-needed momentum ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP conceded defeat after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai stated that his party could not make the mark, despite the efforts of everyone, including the prime minister and party workers.
As per the latest trends available on the Election Commission website, the Congress is either winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka, comfortably crossing the magic number of 113, while the BJP is leading in only 64 seats, a sharp drop from its 2018 tally of 104. The Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S), which had hoped to be the kingmaker, is leading in only 20 seats, down from 37 last time.
The Congress workers across the country celebrated the much-needed victory, dancing to drumbeats and bursting firecrackers.
Former party chief Rahul Gandhi expressed happiness that the party contested the elections without using hate and bad language, fighting with love. He said that the market of hate has closed down, and the shops of love have opened. The strength of the poor has defeated the power of crony capitalists, and this will happen in all states. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called it the victory of the people, and said that all the leaders worked unitedly, and people voted for their guarantees.
For the Congress, looking to position itself as the main opposition player in 2024, this was the moment they had been waiting for. Senior state leader Siddaramaiah said that this result would be a stepping stone for Congress victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Siddaramaiah expressed the hope that Rahul Gandhi would become prime minister in 2024. KPCC president D K Shivakumar, the other contender for the chief minister's post, was effusive in his praise of the Gandhi family, saying that he couldn't forget Sonia Gandhi visiting him after the BJP people jailed him. He added that he had told the Gandhi family and Kharge that he would deliver Karnataka to them.
Apart from corruption allegations and its guarantees, the Congress received a boost from the Muslim vote, which accounts for nearly 13 per cent of the electorate, according to party leaders. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, a Kanyakumari to Kashmir campaign headed by Rahul Gandhi, also made a significant difference, with Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh calling it the Sanjeevini for the party.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders, who had been hoping to break the 38-year jinx of Karnataka not voting an incumbent to power, were contemplative in defeat. The party's vote share slipped from 36.22 in the last assembly election to 35.8 per cent, while the Congress' vote share has gone up from 38.04 per cent to a possible 43.1 per cent. The gains were perhaps from the JD-S, whose vote share came down from 18.36 per cent to 13.3 per cent, according to the trends. JD-S leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy visited the Shri Basaveshwara Gayatri temple to offer prayers, hoping for a win that would make his party a key player in government formation.
In conclusion, the Congress' victory in Karnataka marks a significant shift in the political landscape of southern India, and provides the party with much-needed momentum ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the BJP is contemplative in defeat, the Congress is celebrating
In the previous assembly, which is now outgoing, the BJP had a total of 116 MLAs, followed by the Congress with 69, JD-S with 29, BSP with one, independents with two, the speaker with one, and six seats were vacant due to resignations and deaths of some members who joined other parties before the election.
