KARNATAKA - ADVANTAGE B J P.
SPOILER FOR CONGRESS ENACTED BY JD (S) AND BSP.
RAHUL GANDHI AND PRIYANKA GANDHI CAN SAVE CONGRESS.
The statement by congress after it lost assembly elections in 2008:
The Congress strategy in Karnataka paid off in part as the people voted for a national party but admitted to having miscalculated the hold of the Janata Dal (Secular) in parts of the State.
“We wanted this to be an election between two national parties. In this we succeeded, but the JD(S) did not do as badly as we anticipated,” said Prithviraj Chavan, Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka. “The secular vote got divided because of JD(S),” he added, pointing to the silver lining that the Congress sees in the results — avoidance of a fractured mandate.
As against 13 Independents in 2004, this time round there were only six, five of them Congress rebels.
Other than the JD(S), no small party picked up a seat, he said. This was a welcome trend and should be worked upon to end the politics of a fractured mandate. “Sympathy factor”
This apart, Mr. Chavan said, the sympathy factor worked to the BJP’s advantage. “Just like in 1999 when people wanted to give Atal Bihari Vajpayee a chance after his government was dislodged by one vote, voters in Karnataka felt that the BJP must be tried out at least once.”
This, according to Congress strategists, was particularly true in the second and third phases of polling during which people felt that the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, B.S. Yeddyurappa, had been cheated out of his chance to hold the reins of the government.
According to Mr. Tiwari, the Congress lost 21 seats by less than 3,000 votes: two seats by less than 100 votes, six by less than 1,000 votes, another half-a-dozen Assembly segments by 2,000 votes and seven constituencies by 3,000 votes. In fact, the party lost Kumta by just 20 votes and the former Chief Minister Dharam Singh was defeated in Jevargi by a margin of 70 votes.No referendum
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party polled a lesser percentage of votes than the Congress in the Legislative Assembly elections, it still emerged the largest party in the 224-member Lower House by bagging 110 seats.
The Congress candidates emerged as runner-up in 116 constituencies and the BJP candidates in 58.
The Janata Dal (Secular) nominees stood second in 39 constituencies.
In the 2004 Legislative Assembly elections also, the BJP had polled a lesser percentage of votes than the Congress but had still won the highest number of seats (79). The Congress bagged 65 seats in 2004.
In the just concluded elections, the BJP’s vote percentage has increased to 33.86 from 28.49 in 2004, an increase of 5.37.
Over five per cent swing in favour of the BJP helped it get an additional 31 seats .
The Congress polled 34.59 per cent votes and secured 80 seats.
The Janata Dal (Secular) has polled 19.11 per cent of votes against 20.59 per cent in 2004, a decline of 1.48 per cent. The seat share of the party also declined sharply from 58 in 2004 to 28 in 2008. Poor show by JD(U)
The voting percentage of the Janata Dal (United) declined significantly in the 2008 elections. The party, which had won five seats in 2004, failed to secure even a single seat this time. The party received just 0.32 per cent of the votes in 2008 against 2.08 per cent in 2004.
The Janata Dal (United) stood fourth in terms of voting percentage in 2004, sources at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer told The Hindu.
The Congress polled 90.48 lakh votes, the BJP 88.57 lakh, Janata Dal (Secular) 50 lakh and the Bahujan Samaj Party 18.08 lakh votes in the State in the three-phase polling.
As many as 27 political parties had secured less than one per cent of votes in the 2008 elections. More than 2.61 crore voters exercised their franchise.Independents
The vote share of independent candidates increased marginally from 6.89 per cent in 2004 to 6.91 per cent in 2008. Six independents won the elections this time against 13 in 2004.
The Bahujan Samaj Party received 2.74 per cent of votes (1.75 per cent in 2004) while the Samajwadi Party bagged 0.93 per cent of votes polled in 2008. Runner-up candidates
With regard to runner-up candidates in the Assembly elections, the Congress candidates stood second in 116 constituencies followed by BJP (58), Janata Dal-Secular, (39), independents (5), BSP (2), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Republic Party of India, Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha and SP in one constituency each.
Congress in Karnataka has not taken any damage control steps, instead they slept on the issue. A leader less and radar less Congress M L A's got the bite from BJP (i.e. operation kamala) and consolidated their position. Even today one sitting MLA C P yogeshwar (rebel Congress) joined BJP .
2008 assembly elections, Congress lost around 7 seats thanks to B S P. Tumkur it lost 3. Related article after elections (excerpt's):
BSP rocks the Congress boat in Tumkur district
Congress would have got three more seats if BSP had not fielded candidates In Tumkur.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has managed to wreck the Congress boat in Tumkur district. A glance at the voting pattern in the May 10 polling in the eleven constituencies in Tumkur district confirms it.
The Congress may have easily won at least three more seats if the BSP candidates were not in the fray. Congress won four of the eleven seats and its rebel won the Pavagada seat.
The BSP had fielded its candidates in all the eleven constituencies. A BSP rebel was also in the fray in Madhugiri segment. Its candidate, Pandurangaiah, got 769 votes and its rebel, Chickanna, 528 votes.
Congress candidate from Madhugiri, K.N. Rajanna, lost to D.C. Gowrishankar of Janata Dal (Secular). The difference was only 563 votes. Mr. Rajanna, who was the MLA from Bellavi in the last Assembly elections, was instrumental in the formation of over a thousand Dalit panchayats in the district. He fully supported the Bhooshakti Kendra of Nelehal to implement the Dalit Panchayat Scheme.
The Dalits had been considered as “traditional Congress voters” in Tumkur City. The BSP candidate from the city segment, Veer Dilip Kumar, polled 1,053 votes. Congress candidate from the city, Rafiq Ahmed Shaik, faced defeat by a narrow margin of 1,869 votes. Names of over 910 voters of Ambedkar Nagar in the city were found missing in the electoral rolls.
In Tiptur, Congress candidate, K. Shadakshari, lost to H.C. Nagesh of BJP by a difference of 6,866 votes. BSP candidate there, M. Lingaraju, polled 8,021 votes. Despite the presence of the BSP candidates, the Dalit organisations had decided to support the Congress in the district on a feeling that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President M. Malikarjuna Kharge, would become the Chief Minister if the Congress was voted to power. However, the organisations were disillusioned after S.M. Krishna, former Chief Minister, and Siddaramaiah, former Deputy Chief Minister, repeatedly issued statements in the press staking their claim to the top post during the election campaign in the first phase of polling.
T.B. Jayachandra (Congress), former Minister, was able to trounce B. Satyanarayana of Janata Dal (S) by a big lead of 26,496 votes from Sira. The former has been credited with securing the Hemavathy water to Sira town and its surrounding villages.
Similarly, BJP candidate B. Suresh Gowda grabbed the Tumkur Rural seat from H. Ningappa of the Janata Dal (S) by a big margin of 28,323 votes. Mr. Gowda had tasted defeat at the hands of Mr. Ningappa in 2004.
Kurubas :
C.B. Suresh Babu of Janata Dal (S) won the CN Halli seat by a big lead of 29,038 votes. The Kurubas are dominant in the CN Halli segment and Mr. Babu was the only candidate in the fray from that community. There were four Lingayat candidates – K.S. Kirankumar (BJP), J.C. Madhuswamy (JD-U), N. Renuka Prasad (Congress) and one independent.
Kurubas did not support the Congress as Mr. Prasad got only 3,940 votes. So also in Tiptur, where Kurubas are in majority.
The local Congress leaders are known to have put pressure on Mr. Siddaramaiah to campaign in CN Halli and Tiptur. But, he could not make it due to his preoccupation in his own constituency.
Congress with out alliances jumping in to fry is a bold move, but strategically a wrong one. The third front partners B S P and Janata Dal Secular are contesting in all the seats on their own. B S P strategically planned to field minority candidates in 5 constituencies thus cutting the congress and JDS votes. B S P is indirectly and intentionally supporting the B J P. If no party gets majority, BSP will be either queen maker or she will be Queen herself for the Ruling Alliance. In politics no party or no individual is permanent enemy.
Congress could not get a leader, who could steer the party in Karnataka. Rahul Gandhi and Prinyanka should campaign for the Candidates to save karnataka going Bihar and U.P. way. It is the charisma of Gandhi family can only save. Congress to groom the leaders for all states from now, so that legacy of congress will stay on. Rajeev Gandhi jee always mixed with leaders, people and always shown respect to cadre. I think and strongly believe its missing now. The Union Ministers from states does not have any link up with people of state. They are happy to be in good books of 10 Janapath. Some times the AICC members nominated does not have any standing in the states.
FLASH NEWS:
A world record has been created by the Indian National Congress in Andhra Pradesh. In one District One family is contesting for 3 Assembly seats and one Parliamentary seat. God bless the Congress and the family.
Bharatiya Janata Party will have bold show in Karnataka.
