PremiumThe Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced the dates of the Karnataka Assembly election. The Election Commission officials held a press conference at Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bjawan in Delhi on Wednesday. Election Commissioner of India Anup Chandra Pandey, Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, and ECI Arun Goel announced the final schedule of Karnataka Assembly polls at 11:30 am on Wednesday. Check all the LIVE updates on the Karnataka election schedule on Livemint:
Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday, said that in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly election, both the national parties (BJP and Congress) will be rejected and the people will elect a regional party.
Talking to ANI, he said, "This time, Kannadigas have decided and are mentally prepared to elect a regional party, and both the national parties will be rejected".
Responding to the allegations of being called the "B Team", he said, "Both BJP and Congress are saying that we are the B-Team of the other, but I would like to say that we are the B-Team of Kannadigas".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that BJP is committed to furthering the growth journey of Karnataka and to empower the poor and marginalised sections of the society.
He said Karnataka is a powerhouse of development thanks to the hardworking people of the state and the BJP will seek votes based on the party's development agenda.
PM Modi made the remarks in response to a tweet by Karnataka BJP on a day the Election Commission announced polls in the state.
Soon after the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Wednesday alleged that the ruling BJP has made the election system corrupt and hoped that the Election Commission would conduct free and fair elections.
"BJP has made the election system corrupt. They have started "Operation Lotus". They spend lots of money. The Election Commission should conduct the election in a free and fair manner. We hope they will do it," Siddaramaiah said.
With the Karnataka assembly elections around the corner, the Election Commission has introduced the facility to Vote-from-Home (VFH) for people above 80 years of age and those with disabilities. Read More
The Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced the dates of the Karnataka Assembly election. The election for the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly will take place on May 10 and the counting of votes will then take place on May 13.
This time, it is expected that there be a close contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress along with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) playing a possible kingmaker role. Read More
The Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023, according to the Election Commission, are scheduled for May 10, with vote counting taking place on May 13. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated on March 29 that money power, in addition to urban and youth apathy, is a significant issue in the electoral arena. Let’s take a look at some of the key candidates of Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023. Read More
"Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee would like to welcome one-day polling which has been announced. May 10 will not be only voting day, it will be the day of rooting out corruption, 40% commission, the capital of corruption everything will be rooted out…," Karnataka Congress Chief D K Shivakumar
The major political parties contesting the Karnataka election 2023 are- BJP, Congress, JD(S), and BSP
“We are winning this election. The people of are fed up with the 40% government, the BJP is playing caste politics, and unemployment is at its highest. This time it is going to be Congress all the way," Congress leader Priyank Kharge said.
Congress will win the Karnataka elections and form government in the state. This is the reason why all top ministers of the Modi govt are visiting the state. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders of the party will visit the state: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge
Election Commission has announced the dates. Polls will take place on 10th May & results will be announced on 13th May. BJP is an ever-ready party and we are prepared for the polls. BJP is going to come back to power with a massive majority: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai
After the announcement of the Karnataka poll dates, the Congress party is likely to finalise the names of the remaining candidates for the upcoming election.
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and other party workers will hold a screening committee meeting in Bengaluru to finalise 100 candidates.
The Karnataka Congress already announced tickets to six women candidates and eight minority candidates in the first list of 124 seats announced earlier in the month.
The names of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and State party president DK Shivakumar are included in the first list of 124 candidates.
Siddaramaiah will be contesting from the Varuna constituency while DK Shivakumar would be the candidate from Kanakapura.
A video of Congress leader DK Shivkumar showering ₹500 denomination on a crowd has stirred a row.
In the video, Shivkumar during 'Praja Dhwani Yatra' in Mandya district, Shivkumar was seen showering in Mandya district from bus' rooftop.
After the election commission announced the Karnataka polls date, BK Hariprasad, Leader of Opposition exuded confidence that the party is ahead of the BJP in terms of campaigning. He added, "We're ahead of BJP in the state as we started our election campaign exercise 3 years ago after DK Shivakumar took over as the party's state president. The exercise to select election candidates has been underway for the past 6 months. The party's screening committee will finalise everything soon".
The Janata Dal (Secular) is a regional party in the state. The party was founded in 1999 after the merger of the Janata Dal faction led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and Ramakrishna Hegde.
The party has its support base in the Old Mysore region due to its focus on regional issues and support for farmers.
The JD(S) first came into power in 2004 when it formed a coalition government with Congress. In 2008, the party suffered a major setback, winning only 28 of 224 Assembly seats.
In 2013, the party's performance got improved. It won 40 seats and played a crucial role in the formation of the governemnt with Congress.
In 2018, it again formed a coalition government with Congress with Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy becoming the new chief minister. However, the Congress-JD(S) government was short lived as many leaders resigned and thus BJP formed the government in 2019.
Congress is one of the main players in Karnataka politics. The grand-old party came to power in Karnataka in 1952 when the state held its first legislative assembly polls.
The Congress party has several times formed its government in Karnataka.
In 2008, the party suffered a major defeat, winning only 80 seats in the 224 assembly seats. But in 2013, it bounced back and won a majority winning 122 seats.
In the previous election, it won 80 seats and formed a coalition government with JD(S) which collapsed in 2019. At present, it is the main opposition party in the state.
At present, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the ruling party in Karnataka under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The saffron party has 119 MLAs in the 224-member assembly.
In 2008, BJP first time gained power in the southern state. The victory was largely attributed to BS Yediyurappa, who was the chief minister of the state.
BJP has continued to remain a strong player in Karnataka. In 2013, the party won 40 seats and emerged as the single largest party. But it could not form the government as it fell short of the majority. The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) formed a coalition government in the state.
In 2018, BJP again emerged as the single largest party. And it again failed to form the government. However, after one year, it formed the government due to the collapse of the Jd(S)-Congress alliance.
The major political parties contesting the Karnataka election 2023 are- BJP, Congress, JD(S), and BSP
The chief election commissioner on Wednesday informed that the first-time voters in Karnataka have gone up by 9.17 lakhs since 2018-19.
In the 2023 Karnataka polls, the number of polling stations is 58,282
As per the Election Commission of India, the total number of transgenders in the state is 42,756.
This facility will be available for 80+ citizens and people with disabilities, the chief election commissioner of India said.
The total electors in the southern states are 5,21,73,579.
Male: 2,62,42,561
Female: 2,59,26,319
Third gender: 4,699
Gender ratio: 988
80+ electors: Over 12.15 lakh
PwD electors: Over 5.55 lakhs
First-time voter (18-19 years): 9,17,241 as of 3 March 2023
Young voters who attained the age of 18 years between 2 January to 1 st April 2023 are: 41,432.
The election commission of India on Wednesday announced the schedule of Karnataka Assembly polls 2023. The voting will be held on 10 May 2023 (Wednesday). the counting will held on 13 May 2023 (Friday).
Voting to be held on 10 May 2023.
Counting of Votes on 13 May 2023
Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy announced 'football' as its party symbol. The accused in an illegal mining case formed "Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha" (KRPP), snapping his 2-decade-old association with the BJP.
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said that Congress is absolutely ready for the elections, we want this govt to be dismissed. “This election will be development-oriented and for a corruption-free state and the country. Corruption is at its peak and PM Modi encouraged it, he did not take any action against his party leaders".
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai has declared that his party will come to power in the 2023 Karnataka polls. On Tuesday, he said, “The party and the government are absolutely ready for the elections. Preparations are already underway. We are just waiting for the ECI to announce the dates. We are sure to come back to power with huge majority".
Rahul Gandhi to address a public meeting at Kolar on 5 April. This is the same place where he made a controversial remark for which he was convicted of criminal defamation and stripped off his membership of the Lower House.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai's BJP government has announced scrapping the 4% reservation granted to the Muslim community under the “2B" backward class category and shifting them to the quota pool of the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) alongside Brahmins, Jains, Vaishyas, and other non-backwards, where they would compete for a 10% quota.
Not many women in Old Mysuru have been elected in parts of the Old Mysuru region in Karnataka.
BJP's Parimala Nagappa was elected in 2004 and Congress' Geetha Mahadevaprasad in the 2017 by-polls for a brief period of 13 months.
Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections, the politics of statues in Belagavi has started. Politicians are engaged in luring Marathas, Lingayats, and scheduled castes in the region.
In Belgavi statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji, social reformer Basaveshwar, and BR Ambedkar have been installed.
There are 51 reserved seats in Karnataka that are politically significant. Political experts have opined that parties that have won more reserved seats have by default come to power in the southern state.
Of the 51 reserved seats, 15 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 36 for Scheduled Castes (SC). JD(S) has not bagged many of the reserved seats in the 2008, 2013, and 2018 polls. The neck-to-neck competition in these 51 seats is between the BJP and Congress.
In the previous assembly election in Karnataka (2018), the Congress tally dropped by eight seats to touch 19 while BJP improved its score by 15 and reached 23.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy announced that if the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) government is voted to power in the state, it would provide a 50% subsidy on cooking gas cylinders. "A total of five cylinders per year will be distributed for free. The auto drivers will be paid ₹2,000 per month. Also, we will work to fulfil the permanent demand of Anganwadi workers," Kumaraswamy said.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, Congress won 78 seats while JDS managed to get 37 seats. JDS in alliance with Congress formed a government and HD Kumaraswamy was appointed as the chief minister. However, the JDS-Congress government fell a year later and BJP formed the government.
In the previous election in 2018, the BJP narrowly lost, securing 105 seats in the 224-member legislative assembly but finished a close runner-up in 65 seats. Later, its tally swelled to 123 seats as rebel MLAs from JD (S) and Congress coalition joined the BJP in 2019.
The ruling BJP, Congress, and ally JD(S) began the spate of allegations and counter-allegations on several issues including the Kannadigas issue, reservation to the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities in the recently held rallies in the state.
At present, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in the southern state. The BJP has 119 MLAs in Karnataka while Congress has 75 and its ally JD(S) has 28 seats.
Karnataka has a total of 224 Assembly seats. The state has sixth-highest assembly seats in the country. Uttar Pradesh has the highest assembly seats at 403.
The Election Commission of India will announce the schedule of Karnataka Assembly Election at 11:30 am on 29 March.
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