Karnataka’s 16th General Assemble results were released on May 13, 2023, declaring Congress’ win. The party won a landslide victory by procuring 135 seats, while BJP procured 66 seats and JD(S) got 18 seats. This is after 1989, when Congress won by such a large margin. The Chief Minister-ship will be passed on to Siddaramaiah, who will take the oath on May 20, 2023.
The major topics of discussion during the elections were the Cauvery dispute, the agrarian crisis, Article 371 J, Mahadayi dispute, the mining belt and Yeddyurappa Base. The Congress party witnessed the 2023 win with such a margin after 2018 when they were ahead by 55 seats from the Bharatiya Janata Party. 12 constituencies had a difference of 2,000 votes between the winner and the primary opposition. Congress won five constituencies out of these 12, while the Bharatiya Janata Party won seven. Outnumbering the seats taken up by women in Vidhan Sabha (nine), the state of Karnataka gave 10 seats to women representatives out of 185. Lakshmi R Hebbalkar won among the women representatives by the highest margin.
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The state even had a considerably high voter turnout with 72.67% for 224 member general assembly polls. The Congress win was predicted by most news channels during the exit polls, especially after the corruption questions and charges raised towards the ex-chief minister of Karnataka. All eyes are now on Congress representatives and their work for the state after Siddramaiah took the oath on May 20, 2023.
