The Congress on Saturday registered a thumping victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls with party leaders hailing the win as the triumph of love over hatred.

As per latest data published by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Congress has been declared victorious in 131 seats which is well ahead of the “magic number” of 113 seats required to form a majority government in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly.

The ECI has declared results for 209 out of the 224 seats with Congress securing wins in 126 seats and leading in seven others while the outgoing BJP has won 60 seats and is leading in five.

HD Kumaraawamy’s Janata Dal (Secular) has been declared winner in 19 seats while two Independent candidates have also secured victories and regional parties Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha have won a seat each.

As per the ECI’s data, the Congress has a vote share of 43 percent followed by BJP with 35.9 percent and the JD (S) at 13.3 percent.

“Love triumphs over hate”

Congress scion Rahul Gandhi called the party’s overwhelming win in the Karnataka Assembly elections as the victory of poor people against the muscle and money backed by crony capitalism.

Addressing joyous party workers at Congress Headquarters in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said the people of Karnataka have rejected hatred and voted for love.

The Gandhi scion said that nafraat ke bazaar (markets of love) have been shut and mohabbat ki dukaan (shops of love) have opened in Karnataka, adding that love won over hate and this will be repeated in upcoming elections in other states.

The former Wayanad MP said that five promises made by the Congress will be fulfilled in the very first cabinet meeting of the new government.

He said that the Congress fought the Karnataka polls by focussing on the issues faced by the poor people of the state rather than relying on hatred and abuse unlike others.

Karnataka mein nafrat ki bazaar bandh hui, mohabbat ki dukanein khuli, markets of hate have been shut in Karnataka and shops of love have opened), Gandhi said amid loud cheers from Congress leaders and workers.

He said the fight was between two polar opposites as on one hand, there stood poor people with their undying strength, while on the other, there was the power, money and muscle of crony capitalism.

Earlier, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot credited the Congress’s sweeping victory in the Karnataka to Rahul Gandhi’s marathon ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, saying that during the atmosphere (of Congress victory) was visible when the former party chief landed in the state during his pan-India foot march.

Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah termed the party’s victory as the triumph of a secular party over one that is fuelled and driven by hatred and polarization.

In a tweet, Siddaramaiah, in a sly dig at PM Modi’s “double engine Sarkar” called the Congress’s win a victory of honesty over 40% commission, of secularism over communal politics and Karnataka’s pride over “trouble engine.”

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar broke down as he shed tears of joy while addressing the media.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge called it a Janata Janardhan Victory and said that the electorate in Karnataka has finally “awoken”, rejected hatred and thrown out the BJP.

BJP concedes defeat

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his congratulations to the rival party for its victory while appreciating the BJP workers for their hard work in the state.

PM Modi promised to serve Karnataka better in the times to come.

The Congress is on the cusp of forming a majority government in the state as Chief Minister Basavaraj implicitly conceded defeat saying that BJP wasn’t able to cross the “magic mark” despite the best efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bommai, the outgoing chief minister said he takes “full responsibility” for the defeat of the BJP while former CM and BJP strongman BS Yediyurappa stressed that the state poll results will have absolutely no bearing on next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

Talking to reporters, Bommai said he accepts the people’s mandate and as the head of the government, takes full responsibility for the BJP’s defeat, adding that the party will conduct a complete analysis of their defeat in the coming days.

Basavaraj Bommai assured that the BJP would act as a responsible opposition and conceded that the Congress employed a “much organized” poll strategy that led to their victory.

Latest counts have put the grand old party ahead in the vicinity of over 140 seats, way ahead of the 113 required to form a majority government.

The Congress has already been declared victorious in 131 seats when last reports came in and are leading another five which would take their total to 136 seats.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) registered a massive win in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll while BJP ally Apna Dal (S) secured wins in Suar and Chhanbey Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and BJD’s Dipali Das won by a record margin in Odisha’s Jharsuguda. In Meghalaya UDP’s Synshar Kupar Roy Thabah defeated his NPP opponent in the Sohiong Assembly by-elections.

Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat bypoll

AAP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku registered a thumping victory, by over 58,000 votes, over Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary—the candidate from Rinku’s former party, Congress—in the Jalandhar bypoll thus breaking the grand old party’s 24-year-old grip on the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat had been vacant since the demise of Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary who passed away due to a heart attack on January 14 while participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra alongside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Chaudhary’s demise necessitated a by-poll for the vacant constituency seat with the Congress fielding the deceased leader’s wife Karamjit Kaur in what was essentially a four-pronged battle between the grand old party, the AAP, the Akali-BSP combine and the BJP.

Suar and Chhanbey Assembly bypolls

In BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, both bypoll results for Suar and Chhanbey Assembly seats, went in favour of the saffron party ally Apna Dal (S).

Apna Dal candidates Shafiq Ahmad Ansari and Rinki Kol won from Suar and Chhanbey respectively. While Ansari defeated Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Anuradha Chauhan by over 8,000 votes in Suar, Rinki Kol emerged victorious in Chhanbey by besting another SP candidate Kirti Kol by a meaty margin of nearly 9,000 votes.

The bypoll in Suar was necessitated after SP MLA Abdullah Azam was convicted and sentenced in a 15-year-old case while the Chhanbey Assembly seat became vacant after the demise of sitting Apna Dal (S) MLA Rahul Kol

Odisha- BJD’s Dipali Das scores record win in Jharsuguda

Meanwhile, the ruling Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) Dipali Das—the daughter of slain Odisha Health Minister, Naba Das— scored a record-setting win in the Jharsuguda bypolls by defeating her closest rival, BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy, by 48,619 votes.

Dipali Das secured a total of 10,7003 votes followed by a BJP’s Tripathy at a distant second with 58,384 votes and the Congress’s Tarun Pandey coming in last in the three-pronged contest with a meagre 4,463 votes.

Congratulating Dipali Das on her landslide win, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked the people of Jharsuguda to have given the deceased minister’s daughter a chance to work for the betterment and development of the constituency.

The Jharsuguda Assembly seat has been vacant since the January 29 assassination of then Odisha Health Minister Naba Das, who was shot dead at point-blank range by a police constable.

UDP’s Thabah bests NPP candidate in Meghalaya’s Sohiong

In Meghalaya, United Democratic Party (UDP)candidate Synshar Kupar Roy Thabah registered a comfortable victory against his NPP opponent Samlin Malngiang by a comfortable margin of 3,400 votes in the Sohiong Assembly bypoll.

Thabah secured a total of 16,679 votes.

Bypolls for the Sohiong Assembly seat were necessitated after voting was adjourned due to the demise of UDP candidate HDR Lyngdoh ahead of the assembly polls on February 27.

The voting for all the above mentioned by-polls took place on May 10 alongside the Karnataka Assembly elections votes for which were also counted today with the Congress emerging victorious by a landslide margin.

With Karnataka marking a landslide victory in the state elections today, former state president of the party Dinesh Gundu Rao has managed to win Gandhi Nagar constituency with a margin of just 105 votes.

Rao retained his Gandhi Nagar assembly seat with a very less number of vote margins, securing a total of 54,118 votes.

The battle in the Gandhi Nagar assembly constituency was between Dinesh Gundu Rao and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Sapthagiri Gowda.

Rao emerged victorious after a neck and neck competition with Gowda and later defeated Gowda with a slim margin of 105 votes. A total of 15 candidates were in fray for the constituency out of which Rao and Gowda were looked as the main contenders.

Dinesh Gundu Rao is the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister R. Gundu Rao who ruled the state from 1980 to 1983.

Gundu Rao is also a former Karnataka state Congress president and currently is the All India Congress Committee in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Goa and Puducherry,

He also held power as a Minister of state for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs in the Siddaramaiah governement.

Gandhi Nagar assembly constituency is an Urban seat, located that comes the Bangalore central Lok Sabha constituency.

Rao has been an MLA from this seat since 2008 and despite his winning the margin by which he won was the worst ever performance looking at his past records.

In the earlier elections the vote margin numbers were in thousands but this time the former minister had to face a tough fight from its BJP rival candidate.

Gundu Rao’s party Congress sweeps the state elections winning more than 123 seats and leading in thirteen seats as the vote counting is still underway.