Global Courant 2023-05-10 11:26:21
The outcome is likely an indicator of voter sentiment ahead of national elections expected in May next year.
People in the south Indian state of Karnataka vote in an election where pre-poll surveys show the opposition Congress party is preferred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party.
Wednesday’s votes for 224 seats in the state legislature will be counted on May 13, and the outcome is likely to be indicative of voter sentiment ahead of national elections expected in May next year.
Bengaluru, the state capital, is the information technology center of India and the area is a sought-after workplace for young professionals.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fighting to retain the only southern state where it has ever won. BJP strongholds are in northern, central and western India, while opposition parties rule the other southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Modi gestures to supporters during an election campaign in Bengaluru (File: Jagadeesh NV/EPA)
The BJP has been accused of waging a polarizing campaign to limit its losses from anti-incumbency, inflation, corruption allegations and poor infrastructure development in the state.
A Narayana, a political analyst, said there is voter anger against the BJP government in the state.
“If this anger somehow translates into votes, the BJP has reason to worry and the Congress has reason to rejoice,” he said.
Sandeep Shastri, another expert, said the situation appears to be that way. “Congress has its nose up.”
A BJP victory would cast doubt on Rahul Gandhi’s popularity in Congress. If Congress is victorious, the credit will go to Gandhi’s pivotal campaign for his party in Karnataka.
Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally in Kolar district of Karnataka (File: Jagadeesh NV/EPA)
In the 2018 parliamentary elections, the BJP emerged as the largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78 seats and the Janata Dal (secular) with 37. The BJP formed the government 15 months after lawmakers from other parties defected. It.
The party is dealing with a dent in its image caused by the suicide of a government contractor earlier this year and the arrest of a lawmaker caught taking a bribe.
The Congress has built its campaign around the Karnataka Contractors’ Association’s allegation that BJP ministers and officials are demanding a 40 percent commission or a bribe for any project approved by the government. The BJP leaders deny the accusation.
A polling station applies an indelible ink stain to a voter’s finger in Bengaluru (Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo)
Karnataka, with a population of 61 million, has strong caste-based voting patterns. The dominant Lingayat community comprises 17 percent of the population and influences the outcome in nearly 100 seats. It is the stronghold of the major BJP leaders belonging to the community.
The BJP relies on its ties to powerful religious institutions followed by various castes and communities such as Lingayats, Vokkaligas, Kurubas, Valmikis, Nayakas and Madiga.
It is also trying to maximize profits in a coastal region where religious polarization between majority Hindus and minority Muslims has deepened over a row over the wearing of the hijab (headscarf).
Last year, a government-run school in Karnataka’s Udupi district banned students wearing hijabs from entering classrooms, prompting protests from Muslims who claimed they were being denied the right to education and religion.
That sparked counter-protests from Hindu students who wore saffron scarves, a color closely associated with that religion and loved by Hindu nationalists.
An Indian court later upheld the ban on wearing hijab in class in the state, saying the headscarf is not an essential religious practice of Islam.
According to the 2011 census, India’s most recent, 84 percent of Karnataka’s population was Hindu, nearly 13 percent Muslim, and less than 2 percent Christian.
