Karnataka - Bangalore   

Congress, BJP gain at JD(S) expense

Bangalore: In which regions have the main political parties in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) made their gains and losses?

The first phase of the elections to the State Assembly on May 10 covered 11 districts in South Karnataka that comprise what is popularly called the Old Mysore region.

This region, a stronghold of the dominant Vokkaliga community, has traditionally voted the JD(S) and the Congress. In 2004, of the 86 seats in this region (that then comprised nine districts, two less than in 2008) the Congress won in 28, the BJP in 15, the JD(S) in 36, and others in seven (see table).

In these elections, the JD (S) suffered its major setback in this region. Of the total of 30 seats that it lost in 2008, 18 are from this block.

The Congress has made substantial gains in the region at the expense of the JD(S), winning in 40 out of the 89 constituencies.

The BJP has also gained at the JD(S) expense (from 15 seats in 2004 to 28 in 2008), although its gains are almost exclusively in the Bangalore region.

The 10 districts that voted in the second phase of elections comprise the western and coastal parts of Karnataka, a region where the BJP and Sangh Parivar organisations have grown in strength in recent years.

The coastal region is the most communally polarised in Karnataka, and here the BJP expectations of building on its strengths have not quite materialised.

It has increased its tally by just six, from 33 in 2004 to 39 in 2008.

The Congress tally has come down from 20 to 18 and the JD(S) from 11 to six.

The most dramatic increase of its strength for the BJP has come from north Karnataka in the eight districts that voted in the third and last phase of the elections.

The BJP had breached this Congress-Janata Parivar bastion, where the dominant landed community of the Lingayats is powerful, in the 2004 elections.

Out of the 70 constituencies that comprised the eight districts in 2004, the BJP won 31, the Congress 17 and the JD(S) 11, with 11 seats going to smaller parties like the JD(U) and to independents. Indeed, its alliance with the JD(U) that had retained a sizeable section of the Lingayat vote base was a major factor behind its good performance in 2004.

In the 2008 elections, the BJP has increased its tally by 12 taking its total to 43 out of 68 seats.

The Congress has increased its tally by five, winning 22 seats.

The JD(S) has lost seven seats. No other party has won seats from the region.

It would appear that the BJP’s strategy of capturing the Lingayat support base, by inducting second level Lingayat leaders from other parties and projecting a Lingayat as chief minister, paid it rich dividends here.

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