A regional break-up of the 2023 Karnataka election results shows that the Congress party has increased its vote shares across all five regions but has decisively captured three of them. In the Mumbai/Kittur Karnataka and Central Karnataka region especially, the Congress won in 44 of the 62 seats with a 44.9% vote share, up by a whopping 6.2% points and 24 seats, compared to the 2018 assembly elections, while the BJP’s vote share fell to 39% and its seats down by 23 compared to 2018. Clearly, the high-profile defections of leaders such as Jagadish Shetter and Laxman Savadi has helped the Congress breach the Lingayat stronghold of the BJP.
The Congress also managed to fare well in South Karnataka and Malnad region (including the Old Mysuru region) with the party winning in 46 seats - up by 25 compared to 2018 with a 40.9% vote share (up by 6.6 % points), helped largely by the fall in the regional hegemon JD(S)’s vote share (8.5% points drop), contributing to wins only in 15 seats for the latter. The BJP also did marginally better in this region in terms of vote share but it won only 10 seats.
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The BJP performed strongly in the Coastal Karnataka region (19 seats). The BJP won 12 of these seats with a solid vote share of 48.6%, much higher than its overall 35.9% share in the State and also trumping the Congress’ 43.2% which won six seats. The BJP was also ahead of the Congress in vote share terms in the Bengaluru region (46.1% vs 41%, 15 vs 13 seats).
In overall vote share terms, the Congress had a healthy lead over the BJP - 42.9% vs 35.9% even as the JD(S) has won a 13.3% share, down by 5% points since 2018 but enough to win in 15 seats in South Karnataka and denying the Congress party a landslide in the process.
Table 1 shows the percentage of votes that each party secured in 2023 across regions, and the change in vote share (in % points), compared to the 2018 Assembly election.
Table 2 shows the number of seats that each party secured in 2023 across regions, and the change in seats, compared to the 2018 Assembly election.
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