Bengaluru (Karnataka) : This year's Karnataka Assembly Election is expected to throw up an intense fight between the ruling BJP, the opposition Congress and the JD(S). Spotlight is turning on the strategies that the national parties will adopt to gain an upper hand in the crucial elections in the only south Indian State where they command a greater support base over regional players.
The existing term of the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly will end on May 24. Currently, the ruling BJP has 119 MLAs, the Congress has 75 and the JD(S) has 28 seats. In fact, in the 2018 Assembly election results, BJP had won 104 seats, Congress 80 and JDS 37. After that, JDS and Congress formed an alliance and formed the government. HD Kumaraswamy of JDS was the Chief Minister of that alliance.
After about a year and a half, 14 MLAs of Congress and three of JDS had submitted their resignations. As a result, by-elections were held in December 2019 to 15 constituencies when the BJP won 12 seats while the Congress won two and an independent candidate also won. Bye-election was not held for Muski (Raichur district) and RR Nagar (Bangalore South-West) constituencies as petitions were pending in the Karnataka High Court.
Later BJP government led by Yeddyurappa was formed. Later, Basavaraj Bommai became the Chief Minister after Yeddyurappa stepped down from his position after ruling for almost a year. The coming Assembly election is posing a stiff challenge for bott the national parties - the BJP and the Congress.
Even before the announcement of the assembly election date in the state, the political parties have already started campaigns. While the BJP has launched 'Vijay Sankalpa Yatra' across the state, the Congress party is campaigning by holding Prajadhwani Yatra, raising allegations of corruption against the BJP government.
On the other hand, JDS leaders have also travelled to many parts of the state through Pancharatna Yatra to attract the attention of voters. Recently the Congress party announced the first list of 124 candidates. In addition, JD(S) also released the names of candidates for 93 constituencies. The list of BJP candidates has not been announced yet.
Janardhan Reddy, former minister and long-time associate of the BJP has launched his own party Kalyan Rajya Pragati Paksha and decided to contest in more than 30 constituencies. The AAP has released the first list of 80 candidates and the BSP has released its first list for 53 candidates.
