A Shock Defeat
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India’s main opposition Congress party secured a significant win in the Karnataka state elections over the weekend, dealing a major blow to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of next year’s national polls, Reuters reported Saturday.
Results showed the Congress party won 135 of 224 seats in the southern state’s legislature, while the BJP won 66 seats.
Home to around 65 million people, Karnataka is considered to be the BJP’s gateway to southern India, a region that the ruling Hindu-nationalist party has struggled to secure in state elections.
The Karnataka elections mark the beginning of a series of important state elections that will shape the landscape for the 2024 parliamentary polls. This election is significant as it represents the first major electoral clash between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP and the Congress party since its leader, Rahul Gandhi, was convicted of defamation and lost his parliamentary seat in March.
The Congress party has faced electoral setbacks since losing power to Modi’s BJP in the 2014 national elections. Before their recent victory, the Congress party had only won one out of 24 state or federal territory elections since 2019, when Modi secured a second term in the national elections.
Observers noted that the BJP’s defeat in Karnataka is uncommon, considering Modi’s enduring popularity after nine years in power – making him the frontrunner for a third term out of next year’s national elections.
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