The scale of Congress victory in the Karnataka assembly elections is a record in terms of both seats and vote share in over 30 years.
The party has won 137 seats — 57 more than 2018 — with a vote share of 42.9 per cent. The closest the Congress came to this score was in 1999, when it won 132 seats and had a vote share of 40.84 per cent.
In 1989, it won 178 seats with a vote share of 43.76 per cent.
The BJP has won 65 seats with a 36 per cent vote share, HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular won 19 seats with a vote share of 13.3 per cent.
Congress’s former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said the party was expecting 120-plus seats.
“This victory belongs to the people of the state. They decided and chose. That is why we got 136 seats – huge after 36 years… It is a big victory… We will respect the mandate and uphold people’s belief in us. We will implement all the welfare schemes we have announced in our manifesto,” said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also one of the tallest leaders of Karnataka.
“Karnataka has given a new mantra to save democracy. It is a pathway to save democracy and Constitution across India. Prime Minister said ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ but the people of Karnataka ensured that ‘BJP Mukt South India’,” said senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, who has been in charge of the party in the state for nearly two years.
What worked well for the Congress was its hyper-local campaign when the BJP was using a national template for the state election, pitching it as a “Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi” contest.
The Congress has attributed the victory to Mr Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra”.
Mr Kharge said, “We have won almost 99 per cent of the seats in the route in which Rahul Gandhi walked (for Bharat Jodo Yatra)”.
The victory has come at a time when the Congress is seeking momentum ahead of next year’s general elections. A string of state polls are also due later this year, including in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana.