Bengaluru: The Congress managed to win only 13 out of the total 28 seats in Bengaluru, Largest district in Karnataka in terms of assembly constituencies and seat of state power, as against 15 won in 2018.
Assembly elections were held this year in the background Reasons for growing resentment in India’s IT capital the public tolerated devastating floodPotholed roads, erosion of green cover, increase in traffic congestion and crumbling infrastructure under BJP. Nevertheless, the BJP managed to increase its seat share to 15. Though the final results are yet to be formally announced, these numbers are likely to remain the same.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on an important part of his Election Campaign In Bengaluru, that appears to be resonating with the city’s voters, who are believed to support the BJP.
Former Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao retained Gandhi Nagar by winning by a margin of just 105 votes.
Bengaluru has 28 seats, but elections were held on only 26 in 2018 as elections to Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar were not held along with others. The BJP got only 11 out of 26 seats that year, while the Congress got 13. (winning in Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar later that year), Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) managed to win two seats.
But in the 2019 defection drama, the BJP’s strength rose to 15 as four MLAs – three from the Congress and one from the JD(S) – joined the party.
Bengaluru, known worldwide as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, ‘Garden City’ and ‘Startup Hub’, has become a model of urban waste, According to Comments made by the Supreme Court (SC) earlier this year.
Two days before the results were declared, Basavaraj Bommai told reporters, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign has been a plus point for the BJP, with which we will get an absolute majority.”
Karnataka, which went to polls on May 10, saw a tough fight between the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S). The BJP considers the urban vote as one of its strong points, and in Bengaluru, which is dominated by Vokkaligas and other communities, the party’s vote share has been high and has won all three Lok Sabha constituencies in the urban district in 2019.
Read also: While BJP and Congress clash over Bajrang Dal, all voters in Bengaluru really want are jobs, loans
Lowest voting percentage in the state
Election Commission (EC) data shows that the polling percentage in Bengaluru this year was the lowest in the state at 54.53 per cent, while the state average was 72.67 per cent. In the 2018 assembly elections, Bengaluru recorded a voter turnout of 54.76 per cent.
Questions were raised about the accuracy of the voter list, as duplication is high in large urban centers across the city. to the Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) and other civic groups. A 2015 study by the civil rights advocacy group Janagraha The Delhi electoral roll data suggested that there could be flaws in the way electoral rolls were prepared in urban areas.
The BJP had been in power in the state since 2019 and had control over the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, or BBMP, the city’s civic body since 2010. However, it did not hold elections for the BBMP, which is functioning without an elected council. From September 2020 onwards. Opposition leaders lashed out at the BJP over this, and even leaders within the party warned that crumbling infrastructure and urban apathy would lead to disturbances and are likely to affect state elections.
The BJP-led government had completed the delimitation exercise and the number of wards in Bengaluru has now gone up to 243, as against 198 earlier.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)