THE Congress returned to power on its own in Karnataka after 10 years, knocking the BJP off its only Southern perch on Saturday as voters decisively backed the grand old party desperately seeking electoral revival ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

As the results from the May 10 election rolled in, belying several exit polls that predicted a hung Assembly, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat - the second loss for the BJP after Himachal Pradesh in December last year. The BJP, Bommai said, could not make the mark “in spite of a lot of effort put in by everyone, including the Prime Minister and workers of the party”.

Congress has won 135 seats of the 224 Assembly seats in the State and was leading in 1 other, comfortably over the magic number of 113. The BJP has won 65 seats, a sharp drop from its tally of 104 in 2018, according to latest trends on the Election Commission website. The JD(S), which had hoped to be kingmaker, has won 19 seats, down from 37 last time.

 

Two Independent candidates emerged victorious while, Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each. Meanwhile, the results of Jayanagar constituency in Bengaluru are still pending after the Election Commission ordered recounting of postal ballots where Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy has a slender lead over BJP’s C K Ramamurthy. With a much-needed victory in the crucial Southern State in the Congress bag, celebrations broke out at its offices across the country, from Bengaluru to Bikaner and Ranchi to Ahmedabad, as party workers danced to drumbeats and burst firecrackers.

 

The result, said senior state leader Siddaramaiah, will be a stepping stone for Congress victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Siddaramaiah, who could be the State’s next Chief Minister, also expressed the hope that Rahul Gandhi would become Prime Minister in 2024.

 

Attacking the Basavaraj Bommai-led administration months before the elections, the Congress alleged that it was a “40 per cent commission” Government. It also announced five key pre-poll guarantees -- including 200 units of free power and 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household -- and said it would approve them in its first Cabinet meeting if voted to power. Besides the corruption plank and its guarantees, what also worked in the Congress’ favour was the Muslim vote, which accounted for nearly 13 per cent of the electorate, party leaders said.

“The Bharat Jodo Yatra made a lot of difference,” added party leader Shama Mohammed, referring to the Kanyakumari to Kashmir campaign headed by Rahul Gandhi who walked some 3,000 km over three months. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh agreed. “The Bharat Jodo Yatra was the Sanjeevini for the party,” Ramesh told PTI.

As the Congress savoured its moment, BJP leaders, who had been hoping to break a 38-year jinx of Karnataka not voting an incumbent to power, were contemplative in defeat.

 

“We will do a detailed analysis as the results conclude. We will take these results in our stride and try to reorganise the party for next year’s Lok Sabha elections,” Bommai said.

The BJP’s vote share slipped from 36.22 in the last assembly election to 35.8 per cent, according to Election Commission of India trends. The Congress’ vote share has gone up from 38.04 per cent to a possible 43.1 per cent.

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