Karnataka Assembly elections: Know how the state politics changed over the years

The state of Karnataka has seen several leaders from different political parties and communities ruling the state over the last few decades. Notably, leaders like Siddaramaiah, HD Kumaraswamy and Basavaraj Bommai (Current Chief Minister) have ruled the state in the last 10 years, with BJP and Congress-JD(S) alliance shuffling the state of power in the legislative assembly. 

During the 2013 elections, the polls were held on May 5 and the Indian National Congress (INC) won an absolute majority of 122 seats under the leadership of Congress leader Siddaramaiah. The party comfortably crossed the halfway mark of 113 seats to return to power after nine years. The election also witnessed a voter turnout of over 70 per cent. 

However, the 2013 elections were held only for 223 constituencies instead of 224 due to the demise of a BJP candidate from the Periyapatna constituency. The Congress government comfortably ran their government in the state, with severe allegations of corruption levelled up by the BJP including illegal denotification of land in the Arkavathy Layout case. 

Change of power in Assembly 

During the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the assembly, however, fell short to reach the halfway mark. The BJP managed to register a victory on 104 seats, and the Congress-JD(S) alliance won 117 seats. Both parties went on to form a coalition-based government, with HD Kumaraswamy being sworn in as the chief minister. However, the 2019 political crisis led to the collapse of the coalition government and BJP returned to power, with BS Yediyurappa holding the chief minister’s office. Later, he resigned in 2021 and Basavaraj Bommai became the new chief minister on July 28, 2021. 

The 2018 Karnataka assembly polls were held on May 12, 2018, in a single-phase to elect members of the legislative assembly from 222 constituencies. According to reports, the assembly polls were delayed in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Jayanagar constituency due to a voter fraud scandal and the death of a sitting MLA, respectively. The counting of votes took place on May 15, 2018, with the election witnessing the highest voter turnout at 72.13 per cent since the 1952 assembly polls.