Congress in Karnataka has improved its tally by winning nine seats, while the BJP, following disastrous assembly polls last year, got 17 seats, with its ally Janata Dal (Secular) winning in two seats.
Contrary to many exit poll predictions, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has not swept the state, but performed reasonably well with 19 seats. On the other hand, Congress, without any alliance, secured nine seats in Karnataka, however, party didn't cross two digits.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NDA won 26 seats, with BJP alone securing 25 seats riding on the Modi wave, while Congress-JD(S) alliance managed to win only two seats (Bengaluru Rural and Hassan).
BJP has won in 17 constituencies including Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru Central, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Udupi-Chikamagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Tumkur, Mysore, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur and Chitradurga.
Congress won in nine constituencies including Chikkodi, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Davanagere, Hassan and Chamarajanagar. JD(S) has won in Kolar and Mandya.
BJP secured a 46 percent vote share as per the Election Commission of India data, while Congress secured 45.4 percent share. JD(S), the alliance partner of BJP, which contested in three seats clocked 5.6 percent share.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's vote share was 51.3% while Congress was 31.8%. JD(S) which was in alliance with Congress and contested in two seats got 9.6%
Interestingly, both the Congress and JD(S), which won the Bengaluru Rural and Hassan seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, lost these seats in this election, when they contested separately.
In Hassan, JD(S) candidate and rape accused Prajwal Revanna lost by 42,649 votes. DK Suresh, brother of Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, lost by more than 2.6 lakh votes in the Bengaluru Rural constituency.
What poll outcome means
In the 2023 Karnataka assembly polls which was held in May 2023, Congress had won 135 seats, while the BJP and JD(S) ended up with 66 and 19 seats, respectively. However, the party improved its tally from one seat in 2019 Lok Sabha Polls to nine now.
This time, the BJP and JD(S) are in an alliance. The BJP contested 25 seats, while JD(S) contested three, all against Congress. The alliance between the BJP and JD(S) helped consolidate Vokkaliga and Lingayat votes, benefiting the NDA alliance in the Old Mysore region.
Congress has swept North Karnataka, which is considered a stronghold of All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge. The party's good performance in this region, as well as the victory of his son-in-law, Radhakrishna Doddamani, from Kalaburagi, will help boost its standing in Karnataka and national politics.
Kharge had suffered a massive defeat in Kalaburagi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, ending his streak of eleven consecutive wins (nine assembly and two Lok Sabha elections).
Also, read: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah rubbishes exit polls, says Congress will win 15-20 seats in State
In Karnataka, the Congress party fielded six children of sitting state ministers, three of whom—Sagar Khandre (Bidar), Sunil Bose (Chamarajanagar), and Priyanka Jarkiholi (Chikkodi)—won. Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of minister SS Mallikarjun, also emerged victorious in Davanagere.
Also, read: BJP-led NDA to win big in Karnataka, no major uptick for Congress: News18 exit poll
Multiple exit polls had earlier predicted that the BJP-led NDA might secure 23-24 seats, while Congress might win 4-5 seats.
Although Congress performed better than predicted, the party's loss in Mysuru is a setback for Siddaramaiah, and the loss of DK Suresh in Bengaluru Rural is a blow to his brother and deputy chief minister, DK Shivakumar's prestige and ambitions of becoming the chief minister of the state.
Speaking to reporters after the election results, CM Siddaramaiah said: "We expected 15-20 seats but only got 9, up from one in 2019. Our vote share rose to 45.34%, while the BJP's dropped to 46.04 percent from 51.38 percent in 2019. Despite aligning with JD(S), their vote share also decreased.'"
In Bengaluru Rural, DK Shivakumar had campaigned extensively for Suresh, who lost to Dr CN Manjunath, son-in-law of JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda.
Though it couldn't repeat its 2019 performance of winning 25 seats, BJP state chief BY Vijayendra managed to minimise the damage as the Congress wooed voters, especially women, after implementing poll guarantees and following its disastrous performance in last year's assembly polls.
Vijayendra told reporters, "The BJP-JD(S) alliance won 19 Lok Sabha seats because people have trusted Modi's guarantees over the Congress's guarantees in the state.'"
Vijayendra's brother, BY Raghavendra won by a whopping 2.4 lakh votes in Shimoga, strengthening the dominance of BS Yediyurappa in the party. KS Eshwarappa, a former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister who had also served as the party's state unit President, contested from Shivamogga seat but failed to make any dent.
For JD(S), which is fighting for political existence, victory in two Lok Sabha segments, Mandya and Kolar, is a relief. In Hassan, party faced a major embarrassment after Prajwal Revanna, grandson of Deve Gowda and accused of sexually abusing multiple women.
Also, read: Why upcoming LS polls could be make-or-break for JD(S)
Karnataka, with around 5.4 crore voters, saw a turnout of 70.64% in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, surpassing the figures of both the 2014 (67.2%) and 2019 (68.8%) polls.
Also, read: Battle for Bengaluru: BJP looks to keep up winning streak; Cong banks on guarantees for breakthrough
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