Karnataka Election Results 2023: Congress wins big, wrests Karnataka from BJP

Congress on May 13 wrested Karnataka from BJP winning 136 seats in the 224-member Assembly, which maintained its tradition of not voting any incumbent government to power since 1985.

With this, Congress will now be in power in four states, including Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

Also Read: Karnataka Election 2023: Results dampen BJP’s southern ambitions

According to the results declared by the Election Commission, BJP won 64 seats, while 11 state ministers, including Govind Karajola, Sriramula,  V Somanna, Madhuswamy, Murugesh Nirani, BC Patil, Dr K Sudhakar, MTB Nagraj, BC Nagesh, KC Narayanagowda and Shankar Patil lost from their seats.

Meanwhile, Congress has called a meeting on May 14 to discuss government formation and select a Chief Minister. Observers will be speaking to newly-elected MLAs, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also meet Siddaramiah and Shivakumar to discuss the chief ministerial position.

The independents won from two constituencies and the Aam Aadmi Party, which had contested from 211 seats, failed to open its account.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hailed the people of Karnataka and his party leaders as his party secured a much-needed win, riding on anti-incumbency and a slew of poll promises, including financial support of Rs 3,000 per month to every unemployed graduate and Rs 1,500 per month to diploma holders for two years.

During a rally in Belagavi, Rahul Gandhi pledged to create 10 lakh jobs in the state over five years and to fill the 2.5 lakh job vacancies in Karnataka.

Also read: Karnataka Conundrum: Congress sweeps polls but has two CM contenders

Congress's vote share stood at 43 percent while BJP's recorded a vote share of 35.9 percent. The saffron party had received 36.5 percent in the previous assembly elections held in 2018.

Congress state president DK Shivakumar defeated his nearest JDS rival B Nagaraju by a margin of more than 1,22,392 votes from the Kanakapura seat. It was seen as the highest victory margin in the elections.

Nestled amid rocky terrains, Kanakpura is the mighty fortress of the Congress. KPCC president DK Shivakumar, who is now an eight-time MLA, has been elected multiple times from this constituency, located on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Senior Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah, who was contesting from the Varuna Assembly segment defeated his nearest rival V Somanna, a BJP candidate by 46,163 votes.

Congress, which was the main opposition party, had raised issues of price rise, unemployment, recruitment scams, and corruption, among others during its election campaign.

Meanwhile, BJP's manifesto included the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Karnataka. It also promised to provide three free cooking gas cylinders to all BPL families annually.

The party's manifesto was majorly based on six guarantees - Anna,  Akshara, Aarogya,  Abhivruddhi, Aadaaya and Abhaya.