Since 1985, Karnataka has never voted back a ruling party. The same trend has continued in 2023. Defying many predictions of an Assembly without a clear majority, the Congress received a clear mandate, winning 135 seats in the State and increasing its vote share by close to 5% points. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) more or less retained its vote share, but its seats plummeted by one-third. The Janata Dal (Secular) saw a fall of 5% points in its vote share and a slash in its tally by half (Table 1).
Both the Congress and the BJP invested a lot of time, energy and effort in winning this election. The BJP was keen to retain its only bastion in the south, while the Congress wished to seize the opportunity provided by an unpopular government in the State. The Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) post-poll survey indicates at what point voters made their voting choice. Four of every 10 respondents (39%) asserted that they had decided who to vote for well before the campaign started. A higher percentage of BJP voters took this stand (47%) compared to Congress (37%) and JD(S) (34%) supporters. The declaration of candidates and the campaign seemed to influence three of every 10 voters (29%). A higher percentage of Congress and JD(S) voters said that they had decided who to vote for during this phase. A little over one-fourth of them (28%) said that they had decided at the last minute. One-third of those who voted for the Congress (32%) and the JD(S) (31%) took this stand, while a little less than one-fourth of those who voted for the BJP (23%) held this position. It is thus clear that the choice of candidates and the nature of the campaign influenced the Congress and JD(S) voters more than they influenced the supporters of the BJP (Table 2). The focus on the local, attempted by the Congress and the JD(S), appears to have had a strong impact.
