Modi’s BJP concedes crucial state election in rare electoral setback

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has lost control of a key southern state to the Indian National Congress, dealing a rare political blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi a year before national elections.

According to results published by the Election Commission of India, the Congress won 135 of the 224 seats in the Karnataka state assembly.

The BJP won 66 seats, putting it in a position to form a government without a coalition partner.

Karnataka is one of the wealthiest states in India and is home to the tech hub of Bengaluru. A defeat means the BJP will lose the only state it rules in the south of the country.

Modi campaigned in person a week ahead of Wednesday’s vote, which both the BJP and the Congress described as strategically important. The candidates of both the parties raised the issues of religion, caste, economy and corruption.

The BJP Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai, admitted defeat, in remarks saying, “Despite a lot of efforts, (which) have been made by everyone from our Prime Minister to the workers, we have not been able to make a mark.” Which was broadcast online on Saturday.

The result would be a major boost for the Congress, which was India’s dominant political party for decades before being crushed by the BJP in national elections in both 2014 and 2019.

A senior Congress functionary attributed the party’s victory to fighting the elections on local issues.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said, “The prime minister injected division and attempted polarisation.” wrote on Twitter. “Vote in Karnataka for an engine in Bengaluru that will combine economic growth with social harmony.”

Modi, his top deputy and home affairs minister, along with Amit Shah and other officials, had campaigned in Karnataka on the strength of delivering a “double engine” government for the state, with the BJP in power in both New Delhi and Bengaluru.

Ahead of the elections, the BJP’s state government scrapped the 4 percent reservation under affirmative action job quotas for minority Muslims, and reallocated it to two other disadvantaged groups, seen by its Hindu nationalist base . Muslims constitute about 13 percent of the population of Karnataka.

Modi on Saturday congratulated the Congress for its victory. “My best wishes for fulfilling the aspirations of the people,” he wrote on Twitter.

One analyst said the result was a clear victory for the Congress, but noted that most of the party’s gains appeared to have come at the expense of the Janata Dal (Secular), which is the third largest party, rather than the BJP.

“It is an emphatic victory for the Congress,” said Sugata Srinivasaraju, a Bengaluru-based author and journalist. “But I would not extrapolate this and say that 2024 will be essentially the same as the BJP seems to have retained its vote share.”

The Congress had described the Karnataka vote as a step to rebuild its base at the national level, along with other upcoming state elections.

Additional reporting by Jyotsna Singh in New Delhi