Karnataka urban body polls: Key takeaways for 2019

Karnataka urban body polls: Key takeaways for 2019

Political Services                                               Download latest voter list Booth wise

Congress’ performance in the urban body polls will only provide a fillip to its chances in the state, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Following closely contested local body elections in Karnataka, the Congress on Monday took control of a majority of the urban local bodies (ULBs) by winning 982 out of 2,662 seats.

The Congress’ win also came from the northern region of Karnataka, where it had been battered during the assembly polls.

Rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came a close second, with 929 seats, in the election held on August 31.

Its state-level ally in the state and Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s party Janata Dal (Secular), which had contested the polls separately, came a distant third with 375 seats.

Rest of the seats were won by Independents and other parties.

Independents and other parties put together won more seats than the JD(S).

Congress and JD(S) have now decided to tie up in local bodies where there was a hung house, further consolidating their political alliance.

Undeterred by his party’s performance, CM Kumaraswamy told news agency ANI, “Voters in the city usually vote for BJP but with the outcome of this result, now even they have shown full support for the coalition government led by Congress and JD(S).”

Key takeaways for 2019

Having won 1,357 seats together, the ruling coalition of Congress and JD(S) seem to have a clear advantage over the BJP.

The numbers also suggest that the urban votes, which predominantly favoured BJP in the past, have now moved towards the Congress.

Observers suggest that the win is likely to reinstate both parties’ faith in the coalition for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

During the assembly polls in the state earlier this year, the incumbent Congress was reduced to 80 seats while the pre-poll JD(S)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance bagged 38 seats.

BS Yeddyurappa-led BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats in the 224-member assembly.

Congress and the JD(S) then forged a post-poll alliance to keep the saffron party out of power.

However, according to an analysis, had the two parties contested the assembly polls together, the alliance would have got a sweeping majority with 151 seats.

Following the assembly polls, analysts had also pointed out that a Congress-JD(S) combine could severely dent the saffron party’s chances in 2019 if voters do not change their party preferences.

The general election is expected to take place in around seven months.

The BJP could be reduced to 6-7 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress-JD(S) could bag 17 seats in the state in 2019, going by how votes were distributed among the three parties in the assembly election. The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies.

According to a report by CNN News18, Congress’ vote share in urban areas grew from 31 per cent to 36 per cent in the polls held on August 31, while BJP’s vote share shrank from 51 per cent to 35 per cent.

The JD(S)’s vote share, however, fell from 18 per cent to 14 per cent.

Observers suggest that Congress’ performance in the urban body polls will only provide a fillip to its chances in the state, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Acknowledging the ability of the ruling alliance to dent its chances, even former chief minister and BJP state unit president BS Yeddyurappa on Monday said, “The BJP should have won more seats but we could not perform the way we wanted to because of the Congress-JD(S) coalition.”

Attacking the BJP, Congress said the people of Karnataka had accepted the development policies of the Congress-JD(S) government in the state and rejected the ‘jumlas (rhetoric)’ of the BJP.

SOURCE:  money control

• Prev
• Next