Congress wins Karnataka Elections with 137 seats

With a victory margin of 137 seats, the Congress Party has acquired a huge lead over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The Janata Dal (Secular) is leading in 20+ seats. The Karnataka election results show the Congress firmly in the lead, having crossed the halfway mark on its own.

B.S. Bommai, the incumbent chief minister of the BJP, has conceded.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel told reporters that the Bharatiya Janata Party replaced images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who campaigned extensively across Karnataka – with those of BJP chief J.P. Nadda after realising it was going to lose the Karnataka election. Baghel referred to this defeat as “Modi’s defeat.”

In response to the party’s triumph in the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi remarked, “the markets of hatred have closed down, and shops of love have opened in Karnataka.” “We campaigned in Karnataka with love, not hatred,” he remarked.

#WATCH | "Karnataka mein Nafrat ki bazaar band hui hai, Mohabbat ki dukaan khuli hai": Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on party's thumping victory in #KarnatakaPolls pic.twitter.com/LpkspF1sAz

— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2023

The biggest win for Congress in Karnataka since 1999 after the party clinched over 132 seats.

This is going to be the biggest victory for any party in Karnataka in 34 years by vote share and seat

1994 – 115, 33.54% (JDS, HD Deve Gowda)
1999 – 132, 40.84% (INC, SM Krishna)
2004 – 79, 28.33% (BJP, BSY)
2008 – 110, 33.86% (BJP, BSY)
2013 – 122, 36.6% (INC, Siddaramaiah)…

— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) May 13, 2023

What does the other politicians have to say in this?

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee praised the people of Karnataka for their “decision mandate in favor of change.”

Soon after the Karnataka Assembly election results showed a clear victory for the Congress over the BJP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) leader Aaditya Thackeray stated that, like Karnataka, the people of Maharashtra would show their displeasure with the current regime.

All eyes are now on the Congress’s choice for the next chief minister. CM Basavaraj Bommai said that the (BJP) party’s performance was inadequate. He will resign as chief minister this(13^th May) evening.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress leader, lauded the party’s performance in the Karnataka elections as a victory of politics that unites the country.

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Mr. Gandhi stated, “I want to thank the people of Karnataka, the Congress workers and leaders, and all those leaders who worked in the State.”