Police stand guard exterior a vote-counting centre in Belagavi on Friday.
| Photo Credit: P.Okay. Badiger
Amidst tight safety and excessive ranges of hysteria amongst social gathering leaders and candidates, counting of votes polled in the elections to the State Legislative Assembly shall be taken up on Saturday. Most of the outcomes shall be recognized by midday. The polling for 224 seats occurred on May 10, and the voter turnout was 73.19%.
The elections witnessed a fierce contest between arch-rivals the BJP and the Congress, apart from the Janata Dal (S).
Counting of votes will start at 8 a.m. at 36 centres throughout Karnataka, and a transparent image on the consequence is anticipated to emerge by noon. The query is who will safe the magic determine of 113 seats, or will it’s a fractured mandate but once more, like in the 2018 polls.
With a number of exit polls predicting a hung Assembly, the election outcomes shall be a watershed second for all the three main parties. In this election, the BJP contested in all 224 constituencies, the Congress in 223, and the JD (S) in 209.
Southern citadel of BJP
If the BJP returns to energy then it’s going to break the jinx of no political social gathering retaining energy in the State since 1985, when the erstwhile Janata Party shaped the authorities underneath Ramakrishna Hegde for a second consecutive time period.
For the BJP, which has thought-about Karnataka as the gateway of the South, a victory will re-establish the sustained charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the well-crafted technique of Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda to deliver the social gathering again to energy, regardless of the sustained “40% commission sarkara” marketing campaign towards the Basavaraj Bommai authorities by the Congress. The native unit of the saffron social gathering had largely constructed its ballot marketing campaign round Mr. Modi relatively than native points and the works taken up.
Key battle for Congress
On the different hand, a victory for the Congress would improve its sagging morale, as the social gathering has been witnessing ballot defeats in States since 2014. The victory may also assist to show the management qualities of AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, apart from KPCC president D.Okay. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, who stay contenders for the Chief Minister’s submit. It may also go to show the native issues-based marketing campaign technique of the social gathering.
A defeat will weaken the social gathering’s declare for management of a pan-India anti-BJP alliance forward of the 2024 normal elections.
HDK’s transfer raises eyebrows
In the occasion of a hung House, the JD (S) would weigh a number of choices earlier than it to use the political benefit. It stays to be seen whether or not former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda-led JD (S) will emerge as a “kingmaker or king” by holding the key to authorities formation, as it had achieved in 2004 and 2018.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kumaraswamy’s journey to Singapore hours after polling set off speculations of post-poll negotiations.
If the JD (S) crosses the 30-seat mark, Mr. Kumaraswamy is anticipated to stake his declare for the submit of Chief Minister, regardless of who seeks his social gathering’s assist. In 2018, the then Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel struck a take care of the JD (S) and put in the JD (S)-Congress authorities, led by Mr Kumaraswamy, which lasted 14 months. Now, Mr. Azad has give up the Congress and Patel died in November 2020, and it stays to be seen which Congress chief will take the initiative in placing the deal in case of a hung Assembly.
In case the social gathering secures lower than 30 seats in the fractured mandate, the social gathering may go for a frontrunner who would toe its line, like in 2004 when N. Dharam Singh was made Chief Minister.
The polls would determine the way forward for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, three former Chief Ministers (Mr. Siddaramaiah, Mr. Kumaraswamy, and Jagadish Shettar) and Mr. Shivakumar, apart from a number of different distinguished leaders.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest social gathering with 104 seats, adopted by the Congress with 80, and JD (S) with 37 seats; the BSP obtained one seat and the Independents numbered two. The Congress secured a vote share of 38.04%, adopted by the BJP with 36.22%, and the JD (S) with 18.36%.
