Karnataka election results 2023: Votes are being counted today
Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story
Conceding defeat, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters: "In spite of a lot of efforts put in by the Prime Minister and the BJP workers, we have not been able to make the mark. Once the full results come, we will do a detailed analysis... We take this result in our stride to come back in Lok Sabha elections."
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said he is sure of the party crossing the 120 mark. There are reports that the party has booked several resorts to keep its flock together. It prompted a jibe from the BJP, which said the Congress "doesn't trust its MLAs".
But even ahead of the declaration of results, differences over the top post cropped up, with state party chief DK Shivakumar reacting strongly to a comment by the son of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that he should occupy the post again. "The party high command will decide," added the Chief Minister, whose government has been facing massive corruption allegations.
The Congress has called a meeting and asked all its MLAs to reach Bengaluru. "We will brief the candidates about how to react. The high command will take decisions," said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Sources said the MLAs would be moved to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, a state the party rules in alliance with DMK – to pre-empt possibilities of poaching.
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.
Karnataka stayed true to its nearly 40-year custom of voting out the incumbent despite a high-pitch campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its battery of Union ministers and Chief Ministers. PM Modi has held 19 public meetings and six roadshows, while Congress's Rahul Gandhi camped in the state for 12 days.
In the 2018 elections, the BJP had won 104 seats, the Congress 80 and the JDS 37 in Karnataka. The BJP's BS Yediyurappa formed government but resigned before a majority test. Then, the Congress and the JDS formed a coalition government. The coalition government lasted 14 months after which 16 MLAs switched to the BJP, toppling the government and bringing the BJP back in power.
The Karnataka results is expected to boost the Congress ahead of next year's general elections and the assembly polls in three states later this year. The party is hoping to make a comeback in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It is also hoping to win back Madhya Pradesh, where its government crashed in 2020 with the defection of Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalists.
The results will be crucial for the BJP in terms of next year's national elections. The state accounts for 28 Lok Sabha seats. While the BJP vote share in the assembly polls has not dropped in comparison to 2018, the elections indicate that the party has not been able to make its much-needed breakthrough into the Vokkaliga and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes votes.
The Congress gains have hugely cheered the opposition. "The message from Karnataka is that the 'end' of BJP's negative, communal, corrupt, rich-oriented, anti-women-youth, social-divisive, false propaganda, individualistic politics has begun," tweeted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
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