Karnataka: Congress Creates History With Biggest Vote Share In 34 Years

BENGALURU (ANI) – The Congress party created history by registering the biggest vote share by any party in the Karnataka assembly polls in the last 34 years.

In the 2023 assembly elections results, the grand old party won 135 seats and recorded a whopping 42.88 percent of the vote share. This is seen as the biggest victory for any party in Karnataka since 1989.

Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi hailed the party’s victory in Karnataka assembly polls and said that the people of the state defeated the “politics of hate”. Speaking to reporters at the Congress headquarters in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress stood with the poor. “The poor defeated crony capitalists in Karnataka…We fought the elections with love…,” he said.

Activist Yogendra Yadav said that it was in 1989 during Veerendra Patil’s regime when the grand old party had won 178 seats with a vote share of 43.76 percent.

The BJP in the 2018 assembly elections, won 104 seats with a vote percentage of 36.3. BJP had in 2004, got a total of 79 seats with a vote percentage of 28.33.

An incumbent government has not returned to power in Karnataka after a full term of five years since 1985 as no political party could win a successive mandate in the state. It last happened in 1985, when the Ramakrishna Hegde-led Janata Party was voted into power.

According to the Election Commission of India, Congress won 135 seats. BJP managed to win 66 seats. JD(S) won 19 seats, while four seats were won by others.

The Congress victory has come at a time when it is seeking momentum ahead of assembly polls later this year in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana and the Lok Sabha polls next year.

The next task for the Congress is to choose a chief ministerial candidate with both state Congress chief DK Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah aspiring for the post. The party said in its resolution that the decision of selecting the Chief Minister has been left in the hands of All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge.

On the other hand, for BJP, the defeat has come as a setback as it ended up losing the only southern state it ruled. Congress president also took the “BJP mukt South India” jibe at the saffron party after the results. After the results, outgoing CM Basavaraj Bommai resigned.