Bjp-jd(s) alliance wins, congress improves tally: key takeaways from karnataka

The BJP has been riding on not just the Hindutva sentiment in the communally sensitive areas of coastal Karnataka, but also on the prime minister's 'development' pitch of

_"Deshakke Modi, Dakshinakke Surya (Modi for India, Surya for South)"_ slogan. One factor that helped the party maintain its winning streak, was to deny tickets to incumbent BJP

MPs in parts of coastal and rural Karnataka, where there was severe anti-incumbency and anger. This helped them win all four seats. In Dakshina Kannada, the BJP's MP Nalin Niranjan

Shetty Kateel was replaced by Captain Brijesh Chowta. Chowta won by a margin of over 1.49 lakh votes. Interestingly, even in the Assembly elections, the BJP had won 13 of the 16 Assembly

constituencies here indicating the extent of the BJP’s domination in the region. The party was also able to consolidate the Lingayat votes. The dominant Vokkaliga community in the Old Mysore

region, which backed the Congress in the 2023 Assembly elections, seem to have supported the BJP and the JD(S) in this election. In 2023, the Congress had scripted its revival in thiss

region by winning nearly 37 out of the 59 segments spread across nine districts. But now, the BJP has won four out of five seats in Tumkur, Mysore, Mandya and Chikkballapur by a margin of

over one lakh. The Congress won only Chamarajanagar (Reserved) and Hassan seats. Meanwhile, Bengaluru continued to remain a saffron bastion sweeping all four Lok Sabha seats. The BJP has

also managed to consolidate votes from the urban belts. It is evident with the victory of two-time MP Shobha Karandlaje, who faced “Go Back, Shobha” slogans in her earlier constituency

(Udupi-Chikmagaluru) but won in Bengaluru North. But, its victory in Mysuru and the Dharwad-Hubballi indicate the rising upper-caste support for the party.