Karnataka election results updates | BJP claims narrow win in Jayanagar seat

BJP’s CK Ramamurthy was declared the winner from the Jayanagar constituency after hours of intense drama and several rounds of recounting. He defeated Congress’ Sowmya Reddy by a slim margin of 16 votes.

High voltage drama unfurled at SSMRV PU College, where votes were being counted for Jayanagar constituency on Saturday as five rounds of recounting happened after incumbent MLA Sowmya Reddy was first declared as the winner by a slender margin of 160 votes against BJP’s C. K. Ramamurthy. The BJP leader then demanded recounting, which yielded similar results. Thus, counting went on for five rounds reportedly.

All this confusion had led to the celebration of both the party workers outside the centre, while Congress MLA and Sowmya’s father Ramalinga Reddy was seen in the centre overseeing the counting.

By night, heavyweights from both BJP and Congress, including Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, Padmanabhanagar MLA R. Ashoka, KPCC leaders D. K. Shivakumar and D.K. Suresh had all gathered near the counting centre.

According to police sources, the Congress leaders were prevented from entering the counting centre as they feared that it would create more tension in an already chaotic situation. After being stopped, the leaders tried to forcefully open the gates of the centre which resulted in quite a commotion.

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after the thumping victory of the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly elections, AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge on May 13 said those who wanted ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ ended up facing ‘BJP Mukt Dakshin Bharat’.

Mr. Kharge took a swipe at the BJP, saying egoistic statements will not work anymore and one should understand the sufferings of people.

“Those who wanted to make ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ (Congress-free India) spoke many things against us but today one thing has come true and that is ‘BJP Mukt Dakshin Bharat’ (BJP free South India),” Mr. Kharge told a press conference.

A dozen Ministers who held prominent portfolios have lost their seats in the Karnataka Assembly, brought down by the anti-BJP wave that swept through the State in this election.

Including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, 26 Ministers contested the election. In a debacle that has shocked their party, as many as 12 of them — including veteran Dalit leader and Major Irrigation Minister Govind Karjol, who had earlier worked as Deputy Chief Minister — have lost.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday expressed gratitude to the people of Karnataka for allowing the BJP to serve them for many years and said the party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to work for the welfare of the State and its people.

“My sincere gratitude to the people of Karnataka for giving the BJP the opportunity to serve them for so many years. The BJP under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi Ji will continue to strive for the welfare and development of the people of Karnataka,” Mr. Shah tweeted.

There were celebrations everywhere as the Congress comfortably crossed the majority mark in Karnataka Assembly elections.

There isn’t a dearth of candidates from influential families fielded by political parties in this year’s Karnataka Assembly elections. Even as the incumbent Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has conceded defeat to the Congress, here’s a look at how candidates from political dynasties fared in this year’s polls.

JD(S) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil on Saturday faced defeat in the party bastion of Ramanagaram, losing the seat to the Congress by 10,715 votes.

Anitha Kumaraswamy, the wife of H.D. Kumaraswamy, is the outgoing MLA of the Ramanagaram segment.

Nikhil got 76,975 votes, while Congress candidate H.A. Iqbal Hussain bagged 87,690 votes. BJP candidate Gautam Marilingegowda was in third place with 12,912 votes, according to the Election Commission website.

The Congress party, which is all set to ride back to power in the State, appears to have recovered lost electoral ground in Old Mysore region.

Having been subdued in many parts of the Vokkaliga-dominated southern Karnataka by its traditional rival JD (S) during the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress has scripted its revival in the region by winning as many as 37 out of the 59 segments spread across 9 districts of the region.

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Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who contested on a Congress ticket after the BJP denied him a nomination for the Assembly polls, was defeated in the Hubballi-Dharwad (Central) seat by a margin of 34,289 votes.

The BJP’s Mahesh Tenginakai, a debutant in electoral politics, defeated Mr. Shettar who is a six-time MLA. The former Chief Minister had quit the BJP on April 16 and resigned as Hubli-Dharwad (Central) MLA after being denied a ticket for the Assembly elections.

Mr. Shettar got 60,775 votes, while Mr. Tenginkai bagged 95,064 votes in the high-stake battle.

As soon as definitive trends from the Karnataka Assembly polls came out, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat to the Congress and promised that the party would learn from its mistakes and plan for the Lok Sabha polls of 2024. For the BJP, these polls in Karnataka were just as existentially important as for the Congress as the State was its only bastion in southern India, and its presence there was a strong argument to fight the perception of the BJP being a Hindi-speaking party.

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BJP candidate B.Y. Vijayendra, the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister and Lingayat strongman B.S. Yediyurappa, on Saturday won the Shikaripura seat in his electoral debut by a margin of 11,008 votes.

Mr. Vijayendra got 81,810 votes, against 70,802 votes polled by Independent candidate and Congress rebel S.P. Nagarajagowda. The Congress’ Goni Malatesha was in third place with 8,101 votes, according to the Election Commission website.

In 2018, B.S. Yediyurappa won this seat comfortably, beating Malatesh by a margin of 35,397 votes.

Read his interview with The Hindu here

After congratulating the Congress party on its victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to thank his party workers.

“I thank all those who have supported us in the Karnataka elections. I appreciate the hardwork of BJP Karyakartas. We shall serve Karnataka with even more vigour in the times to come,” he said.

Maintaining his winning streak since 1989, Karnataka Congress chief and Vokkaliga strongman D.K. Shivakumar emerged victorious in the Assembly polls for the eighth consecutive time on Saturday, retaining his Kanakapura seat with a huge margin of 1,22,392 votes.

Mr. Shivakumar secured 1,43,023 votes against the 20,631 votes polled by his Janata Dal (Secular) rival B. Nagaraju. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) R. Ashoka was in the third place with 19,753 votes.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday registered his fourth consecutive victory from the Shiggaon constituency in Haveri district, defeating his nearest rival Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan of the Congress by a margin of 35,978 votes.

The BJP leader bagged 99,073 votes against 63,732 polled by Mr. Pathan. JD(S)‘s Shashidhar Yeligar was in third place with 13,794 votes.

The JD(S) has suffered a jolt in its stronghold - Hassan - while the Congress and the BJP strengthened their base. Hassan is native of party patriarch and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda.

He campaigned extensively, despite his old age, in Hassan and that helped the party get back Hassan seat, which was won by the BJP last time. However, it lost both Sakaleshpur and Belur to the BJP. And, Arasikere is won by former JD(S) MLA K.M.Shivalinge Gowda, who joined the Congress before the elections. The Congress had not won any seat in the district in the last elections.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge on Saturday won from the Chittapur constituency in Karnataka by a margin of 13,640 votes, recording his third consecutive victory from the seat.

Priyank Kharge bagged 81,088 votes against 67,450 polled by his BJP rival Manikanta Rathod. Aam Admi Party candidate Jagadish S. Sagar was in third place with 962 votes, according to the Election Commission website.

BJP’s IT cell in-charge, Amit Malviya, in a series of tweets said that “BJP’s vote share has dropped to 35.8% to 2023 from 36.2% in 2018, a drop of mere 0.4%.”

“Congress’s on the other hand has gone up by 4.8%, from 38.1% to 42.9%,” he added.

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In a tweet, the former minister said “We will introspect in the coming days and rectify our mistakes. Our efforts to build Suvarna Karnataka will continue. I thank Kannadigas for all the support extended to us”.

Mr. Ravi, who has been elected to the State Assembly since 2004, is trailing against Congress candidate H.D. Thammaiah. He was admitted to a hospital due to health issues.

DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi also wished the Congress for their “resounding” victory in the Karnataka state elections. “This is not just a victory for the State, but also a promise of change across the nation tomorrow. The outcome resonates as a beacon of hope for those who believe in secular forces. My wishes to the incoming government and the people of Karnataka!,” she said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday greeted the Congress party for “spectacular win” in Karnataka Assembly elections. The party has won in 50 seats till 3 p.m., according to EC website.

“The unjustifiable disqualification of brother Rahul Gandhi as MP, misusing premier investigative agencies against political opponents, imposing Hindi, rampant corruption have all echoed in the minds of Karnataka people while voting and they have upheld the #KannadigaPride by teaching a befitting lesson to BJP’s vindictive politics,” he said.

As Congress emerged as the leading party cruising past 120 seats by noon in the closely-watched Assembly elections, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat saying that his party had not been able to make the mark and would conduct a detailed analysis once the full results were in. However, the incumbent Chief Minister Basavaraj Mr. Bommai has been maintaining a strong lead in his constituency Shiggaon by 53.05% votes, hoping to secure a fourth consecutive term while his Congress rival Pathan Yasir Ahmed Khan was seen trailing.

The Congress is striding forward with 41 wins and leads in 96 seats, according to latest Election Commission of India trends.

“I want to thank the people of Karnataka, Congress workers and leaders and all those leaders who worked in the State,” said the Congress leader.

“In the Karnataka elections, there was strength of crony capitalists on the one hand and the power of poor people. Poor defeated the crony capitalists. This will be repeated in all other elections. Karnataka has shown that people of the country loves mohabbat and defeated hate. I want to congratulate the people of Karnataka,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“Kharge ji and I had made promises of five guarantees and we will fulfill these promises,” he added.

In the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Elections, 18 of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)‘s candidates were turncoats, while the Congress fielded 23 such candidates.

To assess the success of the turncoats, their strike rates were considered. The strike rate is the number of seats won by turncoats as a share of seats contested by turncoats. In the 2023 Polls, the Congress achieved a much higher strike rate with their turncoats with 69.6% of them leading in seats, while the BJP’s turncoats had a lower strike rate at 5.6%.

The BJP candidate from Sullia Assembly constituency in Dakshina Kannada, Bhagirathi Murulya, who brought the seventh consecutive victory for her party in Sullia becomes the first Dalit woman from Coastal Karnataka to enter the Legislative Assembly.

Sullia was the only reserved constituency among 19 Assembly segments in coastal Karnataka. It was reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate.

Terming the Saturday’s results as ‘unexpected’, the BJP state President Nalin Kumar Kateel on Saturday said that the party accepts the verdict.

“BJP has fallen back despite bringing development. I will take responsibility,” he told reporters. He said that the party will now review the reasons for the defeat, and prepare the party to face the Lok Sabha elections next year.

In Belagavi, Congress is set to get majority of 11 of the 18 seats. The second biggest district after Bengaluru, had 13 BJP MLAs and five Congress members in the outgoing Assembly.

He told reporters in Mysuru that many legislators may not be able to come to Bengaluru on time. Newly elected MLAs will give their opinion and based on their opinion, the high command will take a decision.

He said that he would receive victory and defeat equally. “This loss is not final. I will continue with fight. I thank the voters for having voted to JD S. Neither for me nor my family electoral losses is not new. My father H.D. Deve Gowda, brother H.D. Revanna and I have all lost elections before. I will strive to build the party’s organisation. Party cadre need not worry or become anxious,” said H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Before polls, BJP had 15 MLAs, Congress 12 and JD(S) 1. BJP was able to score upsets in Vijay Nagar and Jayanagar for Congress. In both constituencies that were held by Congress, BJP is leading presently. In Vijay Nagar Krishnappa had won thrice continuously since 2008 and was considered to be the favourite this time too. Meanwhile, Sowmya Reddy, daughter of the tall Bengaluru leader Ramalinga Reddy who made her debut in 2018, is trailing behind BJP presently. BJP seems to be winning back Dasarahalli, which they won twice since 2008, but had an upset defeat to JD(S) in 2018.

The Congress has called a meeting of its newly elected members of the Assembly on Sunday to decide the next course of action on the formation of the government.

Emerging from his residence in Bengaluru, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge told media persons that the party sent a message to all winning candidates to reach Bengaluru by Saturday evening. The party would send observers to Bengaluru to work out the next plan of action.

“This victory is the Janata janardhana victory, and vote against the bad administration of the BJP Government... The voters cast their votes wisely,” he said and congratulated the victorious candidates.

The Congress is striding forward with leads in 124 seats while the BJP was ahead in 70 in Karnataka as of 12.25 p.m., according to Election Commission of India trends, as votes were counted on May 13 for an election widely seen as a litmus test for both parties ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls.

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Former minister and stalwart B. Ramanath Rai of the Congress is trailing in Bantwal by about 7,000 votes against incumbent Rajesh Naik of the BJP. While Mr. Rai polled 36,047 votes, Mr. Naik polled 43,802 votes at the end of the 8th round.

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BJP is ahead in 68 seats and Janata Dal (Secular) leading in 22 constituencies as per ECI trends at 12:35 p.m.

Based on early trends from the Karnataka election results tallied on the Election Commission website, a regional break-up of the election results shows that the Congress party has increased its vote shares across all five regions but has decisively captured three of them. Read the full story here

We’ve not been able to make the mark. Once the results come we will do a detailed analysis. As a national party, we will not only analyse but also see what deficiencies and gaps were left at various levels. We take this result in our stride, he said.

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After the 17th round of counting, he was trailing with 72,866 votes. Congress candidate B. Nagendra was leading with 1,01,718 votes — an impressive margin of 28,852 votes.

Counting finally began across 36 centres on Saturday for votes cast on May 10 to decide the fate of 224 Assembly seats in Karnataka where the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular) have been locked in an intense battle to clinch power. While trends point out to Congress emerging as the leading party, the BJP is hoping to cross the halfway mark.

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Incumbent MLA U.T. Khader (Congress), who is also Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, is testing his luck for the fifth time, including the 2007 byelections caused by the death of his father, U.T. Fareed.

As the early trends showed the Congress party crossing the halfway mark in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election, Sachin Pilot on Saturday said that the issue of “corruption” raised by the party against the ruling BJP turned out decisive in the victory.

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Unlike in many other States, the Congress in Karnataka has a strong local leadership, wide social base and robust organisation for providing a stiff challenge to the ruling BJP in the election to the 16th Legislative Assembly. However, too much of a good thing may also become an obstacle, with its own leaders in the State jostling for power in a game of one-upmanship.

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A snake was spotted at the BJP camp office premises in Shiggaon where Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai arrived on Saturday morning as counting of votes was underway for the Karnataka Assembly elections. The snake was later rescued and the building premises were secured in the CM’s presence.

The Congress party is set to gain an upper hand in Mysuru and Mandya districts. In Mysuru, the Congress was leading in eight out of the eleven constituencies in the district including the high-profile Varuna Assembly segment from where former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is in the fray. The Congress appeared to set to make strong inroads into the JD(S) stronghold of Mandya district also with the party leading in four out of the seven Assembly constituencies in the district.

Of the seven constituencies in Shivamogga district, Congress candidates are leading in three seats — Sagar, Sorab and Bhadravathi. The BJP is leading in Shivamogga, Shikaripur and Thirthahalli constituencies. The JD(S) is leading in Shivamogga Rural.

The ECI is yet to announce the results officially. The constituency attracted statewide attention ahead of the elections as Bhavani Revanna, wife of former minister H.D. Revanna was one among the aspirants of JD(S) ticket in Hassan.

Read latest updates from Hassan here

In a total of eight Assembly seats in Dakshina Kannada, the BJP is leading in six — Mangaluru City South, Mangaluru City North, Moodbidri, Bantwal, Sullia and Belthangady. Congress is leading in Puttur and Mangaluru. Of five seats in Udupi, BJP is leading in four — Udupi Karkala, Kundapur, and Kaup. Congress ahead in Baindoor.

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Mr. Jarkiholi resigned following a sleaze CD scandal. He had vowed to spend less time in Gokak, compared to the constituencies where he had fielded is followers — Athani, Belagavi rural and Kagwad.

The Congress party appears set to sweep the border district of Chamarajanagar while breaching the BJP’s fortress in Kodagu in the elections to the Legislative Assembly. The Congress also appears set breach the saffron stronghold of Kodagu district by leading in both the constituencies of the district.

BJP: 17

Congress: 7

JDS: 1

The only seat in Karnataka where no leads have been published by ECI is Pulikeshinagar.

Shivalinge Gowda, a three-time JD(S) MLA, joined the Congress before the elections. His rival Santosh was an aspirant for BJP ticket. As he was denied the ticket, he joined the JD(S) and got a chance to contest.

In Bengaluru, a close contest is being seen in the Mahadevapura constituency where the incumbent MLA Arvind Limbavali was not given a ticket by the BJP.

Mr. Darshan is Sarvodaya Karnataka party candidate and Congress has supported him by not fielding its candidate. Mr. Darshan is leading by 934 votes over former minister C.S. Puttaraju of JD(S) after round four of counting.

Watch his interview with The Hindu here

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah leads by more than 5,000 votes in Varuna over V. Somanna of BJP, who is a Housing Minister in Bommai Cabinet.

Congress candidate Anoop Iyengar is at 17,553 votes after 6 rounds of counting in Malleshwaram, one of the oldest constituencies in the heart of Bengaluru.

The constituency has attracted statewide attention ahead of elections as Bhavani Revanna, wife of former minister H.D Revanna was also an aspirant for JD(S) ticket. The party finally chose Swaroop, son of former MLA H.S. Prakash.

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Holenarasipur is high profile constituency which elected former PM H.D. Deve Gowda to the Assembly six times.

Asked about finalising the candidate for Hassan seat, Mr. Revanna had said the discussion was held in Bengaluru on April 2. “Deve Gowda knows the constituency very well as he has 60 years of experience in politics. He will take the decision and all of us will follow it,” he said. Mr. Revanna has won from Holenarasipur constituency five times.

Congress candidate Puttarangashetty got a lead of over 12,000 votes against Mr. Somanna in Chamarajnagar after ten rounds of counting. Mr. Somanna, who also contested against former CM Siddaramaiah in Varuna, is also trailing in Varuna which witnessed a high voltage battle. Mr. Siddaramaiah is leading by over 2,500 votes in Varuna. Mr. Somanna, who was fielded in Varuna and Chamarajnagar, was hopeful of winning the seats, carrying out intense an campaign. However, Mr. Siddaramaiah described him an outsider and accused the BJP of making Mr. Somanna a scapegoat by fielding in the two seats instead of Govindarajnagar in Bengaluru from where he has been winning.

A lot rides on the outcome of the Karnataka poll for all parties nationally and for the very nature of politics locally. This is the first in a series of State elections to follow this year, before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. In the south, Telangana is where the BJP hopes to make a mark next, and holding on to the only southern State that it currently rules would be a huge boost for the saffron party in the election that is up next. For the Congress, a victory here will embolden it to claim the leadership of a non-BJP front, while a defeat will dampen this effort. The results here would set the tone for other elections including those in the three big States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Read the full story here

Former minister K.S. Eshwarappa was representing the constituency. He resigned from electoral politics days before the elections. He was hoping to field his son K.E. Kanthesh. However, the BJP fielded Channabasappa, a party worker.

For B.Y. Vijayendra, this is his first election as a candidate. However, being the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and State vice-president of the BJP, election campaigns are not new to him. He took on the task of managing crucial byelections in K.R. Pet and Sira Assembly constituencies in 2020 and succeeded in ensuring victory.

Read his interview with The Hindu here

Bommai is a Lingayat like the BJP’s old war horse Mr. Yediyurappa and has made his loyalty to the 78-year-old evident. So the Lingayat seers, who had landed on the streets of Bengaluru and warned the BJP that with Mr. Yediyurappa their trusted voter base too would walk away, seem mollified, as does the community’s strongman who has cultivated this vote bank.

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JD(S) candidate and former Minister G.T. Deve Gowda is leading by 6,478 votes in Chamundeshwari, which was represented by former CM Siddaramaiah for five times. Mavinahallu Siddegowda, who was till recently a strong supporter of Mr. Gowda, was fielded by Congress to spoil Mr. Gowda’s chance of scoring a hattrick.

BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi, since his first attempt at the hustings in 1985, then as a Congressman, till recently as Minister with the BJP, has run the party organisations in his turf of Gokak just like his other business ventures - with very little outside control.

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Gali Janardhan Reddy of KRPP leads with 3,310 while Congress candidate Iqbal Ansari trails behind him with 2,965 votes. BJP’s Paranna Munavalli is at third place with 2,209 votes as on 9 a.m..

Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha was founded by former BJP Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy. Mr. Reddy, a mining baron, was long associated with the BJP. After his name came up in the Obulapuram mining scam, the saffron party distanced itself from him. A former State Minister, Mr. Reddy is fighting a slew of cases filed against him for alleged illegal mining activities.

Despite being a leader who occupied the posts of the Chief Minister of Karnataka, albeit for a few months, the leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly twice, and also the Speaker, Jagadish Shettar, 67, has always carried the image of a humble, down-to-earth politician who is accessible to all. However, in the run--up to the Assembly election, the people of Karnataka saw him in an avatar that was contrary to their general belief.

​​​Read more here​​​

The seven-time MLA and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, D.K. Shivakumar, is among the richest politicians in the State. Hailing from a modest agrarian Vokkaliga family, his rise and dominance in Karnataka politics is the result of hard work and assiduous grassroots management, coupled with financial muscle. Over the years, he has earned his stripes as the Congress’s trouble-shooter in Karnataka.

Read more here

BJP’s Mahesh Tenginakai is leading against Shettar. BJP chose Mahesh Tenginakai to contest from Hubbali-Dharwad, a constituency with more Lingayat votes. Tenginakai is a popular Lingayat leader and been associated with the BJP for over two decades. He is also a businessman. Shettar quit BJP and joined Congress as BJP was reluctant in giving him a seat.

Congress leader and son of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Yathindra Siddaramiah on May 13 expressed confidence that Congress his father will get an absolute majority and will come to power on its own. He also said for the interest of Karnataka his father should become the chief minister. “We will do anything to keep BJP out of power...In the interest of Karnataka, my father should become the chief minister,” Yathindra Siddaramaiah said while speaking to ANI.He further said that Congress will get an absolute majority in the State and that his father will win in the Varuna constituency with a huge margin.

With the Congress taking comfortable leads as per the trends in the counting of votes for Karnataka Assembly polls, the party has asked all its MLAs to reach Bengaluru today, sources said on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

Special arrangements have also been made in the remote areas of the State to take them to Bengaluru and observers have also been appointed to do this exercise, party sources said.Read more

After the first round of counting, Congress candidate K. Harish Gowda leading in Chamaraja constituency in Mysuru and former Minister and JD(S) candidate S.R. Mahesh trailing in K R Nagar.

The ruling BJP was slightly ahead of the Congress in early trends as the counting of votes was taken up for the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday.

As per the latest trends, the BJP was ahead in 41, the Congress 36 and JD(S) in 13.

Postal ballots were being counted initially.

PTI

With hours to go for the final results of the Karnataka Assembly polls to be declared, JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy on said that he has not been contacted as yet for the formation of the government in case of a cliffhanger, adding that he is hoping for a good show.

Mr. Kumaraswamy cited the exit polls which predicted nearly 30-32 seats to JD(S) and a clear edge to the Congress party with some even predicting a majority for the grand old party and said that according to the predictions, there is no need for him to explore options.

“In the next 2-3 hours, it will become clear. Exit polls show that the two national parties will score in a big way. The polls have given 30-32 seats to JD(S). I am a small party, there is no demand for me...I am hoping for a good development,” he said.

“No one has contacted me till now. Let us see the final results first. According to the exit polls, there is no need for options. Let us see,” the JD(S) leader added.

ANI

“I am confident that BJP will have absolute majority and give a stable government where a new Karnataka with all-inclusive development will be possible,” Karnataka CM Bommai tells PTI.

An analysis of economic, social and environmental indicators of Karnataka shows that the State features at the bottom half of many measures and also its performance relatively worsened between 2015-16 and 2019-21. While the State’s per capita GDP has improved leaps and bounds over the years, the growth has not translated to better outcomes in educational, health-related and sanitation-related measures.

Read the full story here

As Karnataka heads to the ticket distribution stage of its upcoming Assembly election (single phase on May 10), we are likely to revisit the murky tale of illicit campaign financing in politics. Karnataka has come to exemplify the post-liberalisation ‘crorepati-isation’ of Indian politics. In the last election, 97% of the elected State Members of the Legislative Assembly were crorepatis. According to a report by the election watchdog, the Association for Democratic Reforms, Karnataka legislators were also dubbed the highest earning Members of the Legislative Assembly in the country, based on average assets amounting to a staggering ₹34.59 crore.

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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi tries her hand at making a dosa in Mysuru while campaigning for Karnataka Assembly elections while Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah runs into Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai at Belagavi airport.

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Congress will get an absolute majority and form the government in Karnataka. We are confident that we will make government on our own, says Yathindra Siddaramaiah, Congress leader and son of former CM Siddaramaiah.

The party is above any individual and no one should be in a hurry in the Congress, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said, in his first comments on the face-off between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy, Sachin Pilot.

Read the full interview here

In over three decades of electoral politics in the State, the participation of women in voting has steadily improved with the gap between male and female electors having drastically reduced. While the gap between the male and female voting percentage was 6.84 points in 1989, it shrank to just 0.98 points in the elections held on Wednesday.

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The elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the results of which will be available in a few hours, have been tough to predict. While most exit polls have predicted a fractured mandate, long-time election observers on the ground have also been unable to predict despite a perceived anti-incumbency and corruption charges against the ruling BJP.

Read the full story here

Exit polls on May 10 predicted a tight contest between the Congress and the BJP in the high-stakes Karnataka Assembly polls with most pollsters giving an edge to the grand old party.

India Today-Axis My India predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 122-140 seats in the 224-member Assembly and gave the BJP 62-80 seats. It gave 20-25 seats to the JD(S), the third major player in the race.

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Amidst tight security and high levels of anxiety among party leaders and candidates, counting of votes polled in the elections to the State Legislative Assembly will be taken up on May 13. Most of the results will be known by noon. The polling for 224 seats took place on May 10, and the voter turnout was 73.19%.

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Security arrangements have been tightened ahead of counting votes for the 224 seats in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections held on May 10.

There are adequate police personnel deployed as per plan at each strong room, counting hall and counting centre premises, DC Bengaluru Urban, Dayananda KA told ANI.

Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Gurudatta Hegde has said that the counting of votes for the election to seven Assembly constituencies in Dharwad district is likely to conclude by afternoon on Saturday and the results would be announced immediately as per ECI guidelines.

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The counting of votes for the aggressively contested Karnataka Assembly elections 2023 will be held on May 13, three days after the voting concluded to elect the 224 members of the State Assembly.

ANI

As Karnataka heads to the ticket distribution stage of its upcoming Assembly election (single phase on May 10), we are likely to revisit the murky tale of illicit campaign financing in politics. Karnataka has come to exemplify the post-liberalisation ‘crorepati-isation’ of Indian politics. In the last election, 97% of the elected State Members of the Legislative Assembly were crorepatis.

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Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai clarified that he had never said that the BJP would 150 seats, but expects the party to get a clear majority.

Speaking to mediapersons in Hubballi on May 11, he refused to respond to questions on the possibility of a hung Assembly, but insisted the BJP would get a clear majority. “During the 2018 Assembly elections, surveys indicated that Congress would win over 107 seats. However, when the results came, that was not the case,” he said.

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