Karnataka polls will reveal national mood, say parties

Mangalore Today/DHNS

Bangalore, May 2, 2013: Karnataka’s electoral outcome will reveal what the national mood is ahead of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, say both the BJP and the Congress. This is probably one of the reasons why the Sunday election has attracted so much national attention.

Voters will pick 223 members for the 225-seat assembly that includes one nominated member. Polling in Periyapatna in Mysore district has been cancelled following the death of the BJP candidate.

The assembly election is taking place amid unprecedented corruption scandals haunting the Congress at the national level and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka.

Both the parties say the Karnataka outcome would be a pointer to the national mood among the electorate.

In the 1985 Lok Sabha poll, the state voted overwhelmingly for the Congress, giving the party 24 of the 28 seats.

A few months later the Congress was defeated soundly in the assembly poll as the electorate preferred the Janata Party.

In 1989, the Congress had lost in the Lok Sabha election, but it romped home to a massive victory in the assembly election bagging 178 seats.

A decade later, in 1999, the BJP returned to power in New Delhi but the Congress won the assembly poll with a comfortable majority - 132 seats.

The BJP however lost the 2004 Lok Sabha battle in the state but emerged as the single largest party in the assembly poll held simultaneously, with 79 seats. The Congress got 65 seats.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP bagged 19 of the 28 seats while the Congress got just six.

With such a volatile electoral history, it will be worth watching the Karnataka election result.