Mangaluru: We witnessed a state election filled with high drama and political maneuvers like never before. The twists and turns to the race to the halls of power in the state were amusing as well as scary.
The electorate in Karnataka delivered a fractured mandate this time around. Though the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, it failed to form a government as Yeddyurappa had to concede defeat and resign on the floor of the House on May 15 just two days after he took oath as the Chief Minister.
However, there was one little detail that was missed in this exciting roller coaster journey in the past week. It may be a coincidence, or may be not, but whenever the BJP secures majority of seats in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, Karnataka gets a hung Assembly! Surprised?.
History is witness that during the elections of 1983, 2004 and 2008, the BJP had performed well in undivided Dakshina Kannada, but there was a hung Assembly at the state. In 1983 assembly elections, the BJP had secured 8 seats in undivided Dakshina Kannada winning Belthangady, Sullia, Puttur, Bantwal, Vittla, Mangaluru, Udupi and Brahmavar.
In the entire state, the BJP could muster only 18 seats. The Janatha Party had secured 95 seats and Indian National Congress had secured 82 seats. The election resulted in a hung assembly with Janatha Party emerging as major party winning 95 seats. In 1983 it was for the first time that a non-Congress government came to power in the state with Ramakrishna Hegde as the Chief Minister with help from the BJP and other allies.
Similarly, in 2004 assembly elections BJP had secured 11 seats in undivided Dakshina Kannada by winning Sullia, Puttur, Vittla, Belthangady, Bantwal, Surathkal, Kaup, Udupi, Kundapur, and Karkala. In entire state, the Congress had secured 65 seats, BJP had secured 79 seats, JD(S) had secured 58 seats and the JD(U) had secured 5 seats. Thus no party had secured simple majority to form a government.
Even in 2004 it was hung assembly in Karnataka state. As no party gained majority, the Congress and the JD(S) had formed coalition government for 40 months. In 2006, the JD(S) withdrew its and formed government with the BJP on 20 months power sharing basis.
However, historical political drama unfurled after the HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) refused to step down to make way for BS Yeddyurappa of the BJP to take over as the CM. This had resulted in early assembly elections. In the elections, BJP won major seats in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi but only 110 seats in Karnataka. It had to seek the help of 5 independent candidates to form the government in the state.
Due to strong anti-incumbency for the BJP amid allegations of corruption at the highest levels in the BJP state government, the Congress came to power in 2013 with a clear majority. Here too, the BJP could win only 40 seats in the state and in undivided Dakshina Kannada only two seats.
Now the history has repeated itself in 2018 elections. The BJP rejoiced in 2018 as it swept across 12 of the 13 seats in the undivided Dakshina Kannada. However, the BJP political cyclone did not sustain itself in the interiors parts of Karnataka and the party could not cross the simple majority and could manage to salvage 104 seats. We will wait for the next elections to see whether this interesting observation repeat itself or not.
