Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Congress party wins 135 seats

Hyderabad: The Indian National Congress Party won 135 seats in the Karnataka Assembly Elections.

Bharatiya Janta Party won 66 seats and Janata Dal (Secular) won 19 seats. Four independent candidates won elections. Of thee one is from 'Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha' and one 'Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha' won.

The Karnataka Assembly elections were for 224 seats on May 10th, 2023. The Congress party has got a majority with 135 seats.

AICC president M Mallikarjun Kharge said those who wanted 'Congress Mukt Bharat' ended up facing 'BJP Mukt Dakshin Bharat'. Kharge says egoistic statements will not work anymore and one should understand the sufferings of people.

Key leaders who won the election

· Siddaramaiah of Congress won the election with a margin of 46,006 votes. He is the chief minister candidate of the Congress Party in Karnataka

· Basvaraj Bommai, former Chief minister of the state won from Shiggaon defeating Congress Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan by a margin of 35,978 votes.

· Shivakuma, KPCC party president defeated B Nagaraju of JD(S) with a win from his traditional Kanakapura seat by a margin of 1,22,392 votes

· Former deputy chief minister and former KPCC chief G Parameshwara won from Koratagere by 14,347 votes

· Veteran Congress leader and seven-time MP Muniyappa, who had for the first time forayed into Assembly elections, won from Devanahalli defeating Nisarga Narayanaswamy of JD(S) by 4,631 votes

· H D Kumaraswamy's brother H D Revanna won from Holenarasipura by a margin of 3,152 votes

· Veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa's son B Y Vijayendra won Shikaripura seat defeating Independent candidate S P Nagaraja Gowda by 11,008 votes

· Laxman Savadi, a former Deputy Chief Minister who had quit BJP and joined Congress ahead of polls over being denied a ticket by the saffron party, won from Athani by a margin of 76,122 votes, defeating BJP's Mahesh Kumathalli

· JD(S) second-in-command and two-time chief minister H D Kumaraswamy won the Channapatna seat in Karnataka's Ramanagara district for the sixth time with a margin of 21,530 votes

Leaders say:

· H D Kumaraswamy: Janata Dal (Secular) won 19 seats. “The mandate of people is final. I accept defeat and victory with equanimity. This defeat is not final, my struggle will not stop. I will always be with people.”

· D K Shivkumar: President Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee says, “Congress party victory is a hard-earned one. Our guarantees for our people are the guiding force of our vision for the state and we shall get down to implementation right away. This is a huge mandate for our leaders and workers who have worked hard for this win.

Fate of BJP ministers

The outgoing Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government has fourteen ministers who have lost the elections.

They are:

· Govinda Karjol (Mudhol),

· J C Madhuswamy (Chikkanayakanahalli)

· B C Patil (Hirekerur)

· Shankar Patil Munena Koppa (Navalgund)

· Halappa Achar (Yelburga)

· B Sriramulu (Ballari)

· K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur)

· B C Nagesh (Tiptur)

· Murugesha Nirani (Bilgi)

· B C Patil (Hirekerur)

· M T B Nagaraj (Hoskote).

· Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, a

· Minister V Somanna lost from Varuna and Chamarajanagar, the two segments where he contested

· Minister R Ashoka, who too contested from two constituencies, was re-elected from Padmanabhanagar but lost in Kanakapura.

Congress gets a booster dose

Karnataka strategy of a hyper-localised campaign, listening to the ground realities, devising a strategy based on people’s problems, a bold initiative to ban Bajrang Dal and the five guarantees have played a key role.

The ‘welfare outreach’ got a say from the voters who were looking for relief as the rising prices, lack of jobs, education and safety are pushing many to the brink of poverty.

EC orders recounting in Jayanagar, BJP wins by 16 votes

The Election Commission ordered recounting of postal ballots in Jayanagar constituency in the city where Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy is in close contest with BJP's C K Ramamurthy.

Sowmya Reddy was leading by 294 votes as she secured 57,591 votes and Ramamurthy 57,297 after counting. An EC official said the recounting of postal ballots was ordered following an appeal by Ramamurthy.

Congress state president D K Shivakumar and party working president Ramalinga Reddy among other office bearers staged a demonstration in protest against the electoral body's order.

Of the total 224 seats in Karnataka, Jayanagar is the only segment where the result has not yet come out. An uncertainty has been seen over the victory of BJP in Jayanagar. At around 12.15 pm, BJP was declared winner by 16 votes.

Inputs from PTI