BJP smells a rat as Congress emerges biggest player in Karnataka civic polls

Congress party workers celebrate their win in Karnataka Urban Local Body Election 2018, in Mysuru on Wednesday, Sept 3, 2018 | PTI

BJP alleges ‘blatant misuse of official machinery’ in polls in which Congress won 37 of the state’s 105 civic bodies, and the saffron party 31.

Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged foul play as the Congress emerged the leading player in Karnataka’s urban local body elections Monday evening. The latter, meanwhile, said the numbers were a vote of confidence for the party’s governance in the state.

The Congress has won 37 of the state’s 105 civic bodies, with the BJP securing a majority in 31. The Janata Dal (Secular), which leads the state government in alliance with the Congress, was a distant third with 12 urban local bodies.

“There has been blatant misuse of official machinery, and rampant use of money power by the ruling combine,” said former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the president of Karnataka BJP.

“That we have successfully fought against this joint onslaught of the two unprincipled parties and achieved a fantastic victory is by itself a commendable performance,” he added.

He said the outcome of the civic election was “neither an indication nor trendsetter for the Lok Sabha polls”, adding that the party would win 22-25 of the state’s 28 seats in 2019.

Congress state president Dinesh Gundurao said the win reflected the trust people had in the performance of the party in office.

Speaking to The Print, he said the result proved the party’s grassroots leaders were upbeat.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) said it was a “befitting answer” to those who were saying that the coalition government was weak and would collapse soon.

Wins and losses

Of the 2,662 wards that went to the polls, the Congress won 982, the BJP 929, and the JD(S) 375. The other winners included 329 Independents.

Elections to more than 2,300 remaining wards are likely to be held next year.

Alliance partners Congress and JD(S) had decided to contest the civic polls independently. The two parties are direct rivals in some areas, especially in the southern districts, and feared a backlash from grassroots workers if they joined hands.

Gundurao conceded that the party would have “done better” in terms of numbers if they had a pre-poll alliance with the JD(S). However, former chief minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress had announced Friday that the two parties will join hands in local bodies that don’t throw up a clear verdict, which means the alliance is all set to lead 12 civic agencies.

The Congress registered a better performance in the northern region than it did in the assembly polls, when it was beaten by the BJP.

Although the BJP did manage a good performance in the Mysuru and Chamarajanagar councils, its showing did not match up to its performance in the assembly polls, when it emerged as the single-largest party by winning 104 of the state’s 224 seats.

The JD(S), meanwhile, did well in its traditional strongholds of Hassan, Mandya and Tumakuru districts, where the Vokkaliga caste is dominant.

Political analyst A. Narayana cautioned against making simplistic deductions from the results.

“We should look at this election at a regional level. These results are not as black and white… That the BJP got the highest number of seats in the assembly elections and the Congress in the urban local body elections,” he said.

“I feel that the result matches the assembly poll outcome and also reflects the number of local bodies that fall within the stronghold of each party,” he added.

“One needs to analyse if the number of local bodies that went to the polls (in this phase) were, perhaps, the ones that fall within the Congress and JD(S) stronghold,” he added.