Written by: Sam Sajin Raj A. 2nd Year MA Lit Loyola College
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly Election has resulted in the Indian National Congress as the ruling party with a majority of 135 seats out of 224. These numbers are the highest individual ruling party score since 1989 in Karnataka.
The recent Karnataka election showed the people’s perspective on forming a new government with a completely new orientation. The last 2018 election of Karnataka ended up with the ‘Hung Assembly’ and gave a roller coaster ride to all the people. But, the 2023 election of Karnataka has given a new identity to the southern states. The southern states and their people’s ideas over the selection of leftists over rightists have become clear. As Tamilnadu with Dravidian ideology and Kerala with Communists domination, Karnataka has also joined the list by electing Indian National Congress as their ruling government (with a majority of 135 seats out of 224) which is most probably a non-rightist party.
The Backstory of the 2023 Election
Though the people’s support for both the major parties INC (Indian National Congress) and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) remained neutral, the coalition of INC and JD[S] (Janata Dal-Secular) formed the majority trust election and formed the ruling government with H.D. Kumaraswamy as CM. After 14 months of rule, 16 legislators from the ruling coalition resigned their positions and supported the BJP government. This in turn made a huge impact on the election results and brought BJP as the ruling government. The trust vote was conducted again on 23 July 2019 and H.D. Kumaraswamy lost. So, B.S. Yeddiyurapa formed the ruling BJP government on 26 July 2019. This unstable election results and the mindset of the people had given a solution to this current election. Can we call it the people’s understanding of the political perspective Or Is it the people’s evolution over decision-making?
People’s Power over the Rule:
This 2023 Karnataka election has shown the people’s power in electing the right government and not leaving any loops for the non-majority. The 2018 election created a huge impact on the people when BJP took over the ruling party in the trust vote session. This left the people in a dilemma of whether they’ve selected the right people to serve them or not. But, the 2023 election results of Karnataka have made a clear-cut view of the people over the past government. The importance of voting is also been reflected in this election. This 2023 election has registered a total voting percentage of 73% which is the highest voting total in the history of the Legislative Assembly Election in Karnataka.
Southern Dominance:
Though the majority of states of the Indian ruling government are taken by the BJP, the southern parts of India always remain opposed to the ideologies of the Union Government. The way of addressing the Union government as Union government was brought up by the DMK government of Tamilnadu. Later it was addressed as the Central government. The southern governments wanted the Central government to be called ‘the Union government’, as they are the Union of all other states of India. This was then followed by all other states too. This Karnataka election results have added another credit to the Southern lands taking over the ideologies of the Northern parts of India. Thus the South part of India is Independent of the Union government both in perspectives and ideologies.