Karnataka elections: How Congress Did Kar-Naatu, Kar-Naatu

Behind hand-some gains, a local and vocal poll recipe■Strong anti-incumbency: This sentiment was hammered home by the Congress’ campaign highlighting high levels of corruption. Its slogan of ‘40% sarkara’ and ‘Paycm’ struck a chord with voters frustrated with rampant corruption.
■ Five G: Congress released five key pre-poll guarantees: 200 units of free power, Rs 2,000 for the female head of a family, 10kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household, Rs 3,000/month for unemployed degree holders and Rs 1,500/ month for diploma holders for two years, and free bus rides for women. It has promised to implement these in its very first cabinet meeting.
■United face: Rivals for the CM post, Siddharamaiah and D K Shivakumar, worked in tandem, setting aside their differences. Central leaders did campaign in the state, but it was locally led.
■ Bharat Jodo Effect: The Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi’s walkathon, gave Congress much-needed momentum as it was held a few months before the polls. The yatra traversed a distance of over 500km in about 22 days in the state and gave Congress the edge in the constituencies it passed through.
■ Caste math: Congress social engineering also seems to have worked for the party. Consolidation of Muslim and Kuruba votes besides the two dominant castes, Vokkaligas and Lingayats, which account for nearly 30% of the electorate, have backed the party strongly this time. It tried to win over Lingayats by accommodating Jagadish Shetttar and Laxman Savadi, who had left BJP.
■ Vocal for local: It was a campaign driven by local leaders with local connect. Congress highlighted issues that directly impacted people. While Siddaramaiah slammed BJP for reducing the monthly allotment of rice to the poor from 10kg to 5kg and skyrocketing fertiliser prices, Shivakumar attacked it for hiking LPG prices.
■ Social smarts; When it comes to social media savvy, it’s BJP that is usually miles ahead, but not this time. Congress matched it meme for meme and slogan for slogan. “We realised people were talking about data packs on their phones and using their thumbs — capturing their attention was our priority,” explained Priyank Kharge, Chittapur MLA and Karnataka Congress’ social media chief.

The Karnataka Story: A tale of 7 BJP missteps
■ Central focus: Modi and Amit Shah peppered the state with rallies, especially in the last leg. The calculation probably was that Modi magic, and a national issues-centric narrative would override domestic factors and help them sail through. However, the Congress campaign, focused on local issues, appears to have stolen a march on this count.
■Quota rejig falls flat: The quota redistribution done with the elections in mind fetched no gains. Higher quotas for Vokkaligas and Gowdas at the expense of Muslims and shifting the latter to EWS didn’t work as people realised that these exceeded the 50% mark and, therefore, were not implementable.
■ Double trouble? Doubleengine Sarkar espoused by BJP didn’t work because of the state government’s poor performance. What’s more, Congress cleverly converted the slogan into a jibe by coining ‘trouble engine sarkar’.
■ Paying for PayCM: Corruption charges really hurt as these were levelled not just by Congress but by the Karnataka Contractors Association as well as school associations which said no work gets done in the state without a 40% bribe.
■Hindutva card: The strong focus on communal politics and Hindutva failed to garner votes. Deaths of young party workers (mostly local squabbles and rivalries) were built up by BJP as attacks on Hindutva which didn’t gain traction. Even the attack on Congress for promising to ban Bajrang Dal in its manifesto ended up backfiring. There was no sanjeevani booti after all.
■Too hasty: Claiming credit for projects which have been years in the making and inaugurating them just ahead of election when not fully complete proved to be counter-productive. For instance, opening the unfinished Metro stretch in Bengaluru and the incomplete Expressway from Bengaluru to Mysuru by Modi undercut the party’s credibility.
■ First-timers disappoint: BJP’s decision to deny tickets to 21 sitting MLAs, including bigwigs like Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, boomeranged. Not only did most of the new faces fail to win, but the denial of tickets to Shettar and Savadi sent out a signal that Lingayats are being neglected by BJP. This triggered a Lingayat-versusBrahmin debate in the heat of the campaign, ultimately resulting in the party losing in Lingayat-dominated seats.Elections 2025 mark a pivotal year for democratic processes across various regions in India and globally. This includes key state assembly elections, local body polls, and by-elections that could significantly impact national-level politics. Get real-time updates, important dates, voting procedures, and verified news — all in one place. Whether you're tracking results or exploring candidate profiles, this is your go-to hub for Elections 2025.