[Politics] Karnataka results: Congress party set to win in key India state polls

[Mr.Talha]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65580765

 

 

India's opposition Congress party is set to defeat Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a crucial election in the southern state of Karnataka, according to voting trends.

Experts say a win in Karnataka would give the Congress party a much-needed morale boost ahead of the national election due next year. Karnataka - the BJP's only bastion in southern India and home to tech hub Bangalore - is the first of five big states to go to the polls this year.

Dozens of Congress supporters have gathered outside the party headquarters in Bangalore and New Delhi, waving party flags and shouting victory slogans.

According to the Election Commission's website, the Congress is currently leading in or has won more than 130 out of 224 state assembly seats - it needs a simple majority of 113 seats to form the government on its own. The BJP is currently ahead in less than 70 seats.

Mr Modi had run a gruelling campaign - addressing several rallies and roadshows within a span of 10 days - aimed at helping the BJP retain power in the state. The Congress's efforts were led by national leaders including Mr Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge, along with state leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar (both of whom are in the running to become chief minister if the party wins).

Outside the Congress's headquarters in Karnataka
Dozens of Congress supporters have gathered outside the party's headquarters in Bangalore
Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh told the BBC that the results from Karnataka would have a larger impact ahead of next year's general election.

"The BJP will lose the assembly elections later this year in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. Mr Modi would lose next year's general election too," he claimed.

But Suvrokamal Dutta, a political analyst who supports the BJP, disagreed, saying that one election victory would not improve the Congress's fortunes.

"Narendra Modi is too big a challenge for the Congress party to handle," he said.

The Congress was once India's most powerful party, governing India almost continuously - except for a few years - from independence in 1947 to 2014, when Mr Modi's BJP swept to power by a landslide. Since then, the party has been striving to regain its lost political prominence on a national level.

The results in Karnataka are also significant for the Congress as it comes two months after Rahul Gandhi, its former president, was convicted for defamation and disqualified as a lawmaker.

Analysts say the election results signify a clear desire for change among voters, as the BJP, which had been governing Karnataka for four years, faced anti-incumbency sentiment. Its tenure was marked by internal squabbles and allegations of poor governance. Party leaders also mostly focused on the achievements of Mr Modi's federal government in their speeches.

The results show that the Congress was "able to put its differences aside" and come together to fight the election, says political analyst Vijay Grover.

"Mr Modi had staked his own personal charisma and credibility to try and revive the party from anti-incumbency. But that doesn't seem to have happened at the level that he would have expected," he says, adding, however, that the prime minister's po[CENSORED]rity is still a significant factor for the general election.

In its campaign, the Congress party highlighted issues such as inflation, high unemployment and the BJP's alleged poor governance, which seems to have struck a chord with voters.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering of supporters during a political event organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the GMIT College Grounds on March 25, 2023 in Davangere, India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led a gruelling campaign for his party in Karnataka
The election campaigns were intense, with both parties promising several measures to help the poor, including free gas cylinders and electricity.

The Congress's promise to ban the Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu group, had also sparked a controversy ahead of the election. The Congress equated Bajrang Dal with the Po[CENSORED]r Front of India (PFI), a controversial Muslim group which was outlawed last year.

The BJP, in turn, accused the Congress of being "anti-Hindu", saying the party had hurt the sentiments of the followers of the monkey god Hanuman, also known as Bajrang Bali.

Mr Singh from the Congress claimed that Karnataka's voters had rejected the "divisive and communal politics" of the BJP. He also said that Mr Gandhi's nationwide "unity march", which ended in January, galvanised Congress members.

Mr Dutta, however, said that the Congress party should not get carried away by its victory, pointing to the party's earlier losses in several states in north and north-eastern India.

Political analyst and author Sugata Srinivasaraju added that the results in Karnataka don't necessarily indicate an advantage to the Congress in the general elections.

"The context and narratives will be very different in 2024. It happened last time too. The BJP in Karnataka may benefit in 2024 because it would have shed its anti-incumbency by then," he said.