Battleground K’taka: Election on May 10
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Setting the stage for a fierce showdown between the ruling BJP and the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule for the southern State. The polling will be held in a single phase on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13.
While the BJP is trying to buck a nearly four-decade-old trend to retain power, the Congress will seek to upstage the saffron party in this election, coming as it does at a time when both are engaged in a bitter feud over Rahul Gandhi’s comments in the UK, his expulsion from the Lok Sabha and eventual eviction from official accommodation.
Also part of the battle is the JD(S) that is facing one of the toughest challenges to win back power.
Announcing the poll schedule in Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said elections for the 224-member Assembly have been scheduled on a Wednesday, and not on a Monday or Friday, to encourage greater participation of voters.
“People can take a day off and have a long weekend. But by holding the poll on Wednesday, the possibility has been reduced,” he said, adding the move was part of the EC’s effort to ensure greater participation and curb voters’ apathy.
Like in the last two decades, the polls will be a three-cornered contest involving the BJP, Congress and JD(S).
“BJP is ever-ready party. I am fully confident that we will get an absolute and clear majority and the BJP government will come (back) to power in 2023,” Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters in Bengaluru.
A victory here would help the BJP maintain the momentum ahead of the crucial polls in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan later this year.
Whirlwind visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have given it a leg-up but it is up against a combative Congress which has sought to make corruption a central theme of the political narrative.
The Congress is keen to wrest power to give it a much-needed boost to help position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It also faces the challenge of intense factionalism between the camps of its two CM aspirants Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. Shivakumar said May 10 was not only the day of voting, but the sacred day of getting rid of corruption, a day of building a new Karnataka, and giving it a “new direction”.
Also what is being keenly watched is whether JD(S) will emerge as a “kingmaker” by holding the key to government formation, in the event of a hung verdict, as it has done in the past.
BENGALURU:
Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Aam Aadmi Party won’t win any seat in the upcoming assembly poll in Karnataka. “I welcome them, but they won’t win any seats,” he told reporters when asked on AAP’s chances in the election. Interestingly, AAP has fielded Shivakumar’s relative Sharatchandra from Channapatna. AAP has been trying to gain entry into the electoral politics of Karnataka. Party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal also had expressed his desire to field candidates in all 224 assembly seats in the state. AAP has already released the list of 80 candidates for the upcoming polls. It includes Supreme Court lawyer Brijesh Kalappa, who had quit Congress and joined AAP recently. He has been fielded from Chickpet in Bengaluru Urban district.