BENGALURU: The Congress easily crossed the 113-seat mark in the Assembly elections, the majority required to form the government, in Karnataka for which counting of votes took place on Saturday.
The election was widely seen as a litmus test for both parties ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls.
The Congress won over 130 seats, more than double that of the BJP, which was unable to break a 38-year jinx of Karnataka not voting an incumbent to power. BJP leaders said they would wait till counting ended to analyse why and how they lost.
The JD(S), which had been hoping to emerge as the kingmaker, ended up with nearly 20 seats.
Celebrations broke out at the opposition Congress headquarters in Bengaluru and Delhi.
Congress workers and leaders, desperately looking to reverse their electoral fortunes and position the party as the main opposition player in 2024, were jubilant.
"We will come back with a heavy majority. This is a message for the BJP. Please stick to issues that matter to the everyday lives of India and don't try to divide India," the party's Pawan Khera said in Delhi.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat and said that the BJP will come back victorious in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Bommai said that once the results will be out a detailed analysis will be done to analyse the gaps that were left at various levels.
"The Bharat Jodo Yatra made a lot of difference," said the Congress's Shama Mohammed, referring to the Kanyakumari to Kashmir campaign headed by Rahul Gandhi who walked some 3,000 km over three months.
Hoping for a win that would make his party a key player come government formation, JD-S leader and also former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy visited the Shri Basaveshwara Gayatri temple to offer prayers.
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Counting for the elections - which witnessed a record turnout of 73.19 per cent - began at 8 am across 36 centres.
Elaborate security arrangements were made across the state, particularly in and around the counting centres, to avoid any untoward incidents, official sources said.
Most exit polls had predicted a tight contest between the Congress and BJP.
Several pollsters gave an edge to the Congress over the ruling BJP, while indicating the possibility of a hung assembly.
"A government with a full majority" was the strong pitch of leaders of all political parties during the high-decibel, no-holds-barred campaigning that ended on Monday.
The stress was on a clear mandate to form a strong and stable government, unlike in 2018 when BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats.
The Congress had 80 seats and JD-S 37.
There was also one independent member, while the BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) had one seat each.
With no party getting a clear majority, the Congress and JD-S tried to forge an alliance.
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BJP's B S Yediyurappa staked a claim and formed the government.
However, it was dissolved within three days, ahead of a trust vote, as the saffron party strongman was unable to muster the numbers.
Subsequently, the Congress and JD-S alliance formed the government with Kumaraswamy as chief minister.
But the wobbly dispensation collapsed in 14 months, triggered by the resignation of 17 ruling coalition legislators who then defected to the BJP.
This enabled the BJP's return to power.
In the outgoing Assembly, the ruling BJP has 116 MLAs, followed by the Congress 69, JD-S 29, BSP one, independents two, speaker one and vacant six (following deaths and resignations to join other parties ahead of the polls).
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)