Congress improves performance but falls short of expectations

Armed with its five “guarantees” schemes, the ruling Congress in Karnataka has managed to improve its tally by winning nine seats — up from one in 2019 — but fell short of expectations and conceded 19 Lok Sabha constituencies to the BJP-JD (S) alliance in the State.

Armed with its five “guarantees” schemes, the ruling Congress in Karnataka has managed to improve its tally by winning nine seats — up from one in 2019 — but fell short of expectations and conceded 19 Lok Sabha constituencies to the BJP-JD (S) alliance in the State.

The Congress, which won the Assembly elections last year with a thumping majority, was unable to sway voters away from the BJP in the parliamentary elections to the extent it had hoped, and break the single-digit victory jinx it has had since 1999. The BJP and JD (S), which were decimated in the Assembly elections, won 17 seats and two seats, respectively.

Interestingly, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections during Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s first term, the Congress won 9, BJP 17 and JD (S) 2, the exact numbers as now.

The Congress secured 45.34% votes, while BJP bagged 46.04% votes in 2024. The two had secured 51.38% and 31.88% of votes, respectively, in 2019.

The political dynamics in Karnataka clearly once again demonstrated that the State has always voted differently in Assembly and the parliamentary elections.

The Congress won five constituencies in Kalyana Karnataka, a relatively backward region. Four of the party’s candidates won in reserved constituencies.

In the Bengaluru Rural constituency, which saw high-voltage campaign, KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s brother D.K. Suresh suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of eminent cardiologist C.N. Manjunath of the BJP. Dr. Manjunath is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. This was the only seat the Congress had won in 2019.