5 May 2013 2018 → Varuna Ramanagara 28 110 | Turnout 70.23% 80 28 122 40 | |
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The Fourteenth legislative assembly election was held on 5 May 2013 to elect members from 223 constituencies in the Indian state of Karnataka. Five major political parties contested the election: Indian National Congress (INC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), B. S. Yeddyurappa's Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) and B. Sriramulu's Badavara Shramikara Raitara Congress Party (BSRCP). Though Karnataka has 224 assembly constituencies, elections were held only for 223 seats. The election for the Piriyapatna constituency was postponed to 28 May 2013 due to the death of the BJP candidate for the seat. The voter turnout in the state was 70.23%.
Contents
The INC under the leadership of the erstwhile Janata Parivar leader Siddaramaiah won the election with an absolute majority of 122 seats (including the Piriyapatna seat), 9 more than the majority mark of 113. As a result, the INC returned to power on its own after nine years with Siddaramaiah becoming the Chief Minister.
Background
In 2008, the BJP under the leadership of B. S. Yeddyurappa, a powerful Lingayat leader, won 110 seats, emerging as the single largest party. As the party did not have a majority of its own, having not won 113+ seats, it had to form a government with the support of a few independent MLA's. The BJP thus came to power for the first time ever in South India. Yeddyurappa became the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
However, the five years in which BJP was in power in Karnataka was not smooth and was mired in many controversies. A few months after coming to power, the BJP launched Operation Kamala which encouraged Congress and JD(S) MLA's to defect to the BJP to boost its strength in the assembly. Yeddyurappa had to face many revolts over his style of functioning from the Reddy brothers (Karunakara, Somashekara and Janardhana) and B. Sriramulu, a BJP faction led by a BJP turncoat Balachandra Jarkiholi and the old-time BJP loyalists led by Ananth Kumar. To add to BJP's miseries, many of the party's legislators, including Yeddyurappa, were accused of corruption, nepotism and a MLA in sexual harassment. Janardhana Reddy was arrested in the Bellary illegal mining scam in 2011 and since kept in Chanchalguda Central Jail. Some BJP leaders like Katta Subramanya Naidu, Ess Enn Krishnaiah Setty and even Yeddyurappa were imprisoned for some time for their role in individual land scams. Yeddyurappa was even accused of encouraging illegal mining, though he was cleared later by the High Court of Karnataka. Other BJP leaders like R. Ashoka,of corruption, but were not convicted and jailed. BJP ministers and legislators like M. P. Renukacharya, Haratal Halappa, K. Raghupathi Bhat, Krishna Palemar, Laxman Savadi and C. C. Patil were involved in sex scandals.
In its five years of rule, the BJP had three Chief Ministers. Yeddyurappa was forced to resign as Chief Minister by the BJP High Command in July 2011 due to his alleged involvement in corruption. He was replaced by his handpicked successor and loyalist D. V. Sadananda Gowda, who faced a challenge from Jagadish Shettar, the Chief Minister choice for Yeddyurappa's opponents in the BJP. However, Gowda soon fell out with Yeddyurappa and the latter began to revolt against him, threatening to quit the BJP if Gowda was not removed. Under pressure from Yeddyurappa and his loyalists, the BJP High Command replaced Gowda with Shettar, only 11 months after he became Chief Minister. Shettar was another Lingayat BJP leader whom Yeddyurappa opposed becoming his successor just less than a year ago as they were from the same caste. But Yeddyurappa fell out with Shettar too subsequently.
All these incidents (corruption, scandals, revolts, constant change of the Chief Minister) resulted in stagnation of development and governance in the state which made many people turn against the BJP. To add to this, the BJP was accused by the opposition parties and media of propagating communalism by "saffronising" education, introducing a bill banning cow slaughter, encouraging moral policing and being soft on some Hindu groups. The Congress and the JD(S) became stronger as a result and achieved success in polls, while the BJP was pushed to 3rd place behind JD(S). In the by-election to the Udupi Chimagalur Lok Sabha seat held in March 2012, the Congress won.
Yeddyurappa did not have any post in the BJP after he was removed as Chief Minister. After unsuccessful appeals to the BJP High Command to give him a suitable post that befits his stature such as the State Party President or reinstate him as Chief Minister, Yeddyurappa quit the BJP in November 2012 and formed his own party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). Many of his loyalists quit along with him. Previously, Sriramulu quit the BJP in 2011 to form the Badagara Shramika Raitala Congress (BSR Congress) after Janardhana Reddy was imprisoned. These splits in the BJP further added to the BJP's woes.
Election
The election was held in a single phase on 5 May 2013 for 223 out of total 224 seats. A voter turnout of 70.23 was recorded. 50,446 polling stations were set up for the 4.18 crore voters in Karnataka. Election in the constituency of Periyapatna had been adjourned due to the death of the BJP candidate, Sannamogegowda, a day before polls.
Result
Votes were counted on 8 May. Following the defeat, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar submitted his resignation on 8 May. Governor H. R. Bharadwaj later appointed INC legislative leader Siddaramaiah as the next chief minister.
List of winning candidates
The election results for each constituency are as follows.