Congress to announce new CM soon; all you need to know

After the party’s victory in the Karnataka state Assembly elections, Indian National Congress (INC) leader Randeep Surjewala, late night on Sunday, said that the name of the next chief minister (CM) will be out soon. The decision will be taken by INC chief Mallikarjun Kharge. 

“Party leadership will take a decision. I can’t replace my judgement with Kharge Sahab’s judgement. He is our senior, and as you all know him. He is the son of the soil of Karnataka, and I’m sure he will not take very long,” he said after the meeting of newly elected members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) in Bengaluru. 

“Entire process of meeting individual legislators of Congress party has been completed with great bohemia. The observers met all the MLAs separately and recorded their views and now they will submit a report to the Congress leadership and after that, we will announce the next leader of the Congress Legislature Party,” AICC in-charge of Karnataka elections said. 

On Saturday, the INC emerged victorious in the state securing 135 out of 224 seats. BJP and JD(S) came second and third in the race with 66 and 19 seats respectively. 

Karnataka election results 2023: Congress gets the highest vote share in 34 years

The Congress party created history by registering the biggest vote share in the Karnataka Assembly polls in the last 34 years. In the 2023 Assembly elections, the grand old party won 135 seats and recorded a vote share of 42.88 per cent. This is seen as the biggest victory for any party in Karnataka since 1989.

It was in 1989 during Veerendra Patil’s regime when the INC had won 178 seats with a vote share of 43.76 per cent.

So far, Karnataka had 23 chief ministers since 1952. Basavaraj Bommai served as the 23rd chief minister since 2021. In the 2018 Assembly polls, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, Congress won 80 seats and JD(S) got 37 seats.

Pertinent to mention, the Karnataka election was a major victory for Congress after Kharge became party president. The Congress victory has come at a time when it is seeking momentum ahead of assembly polls later this year in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana and the Lok Sabha polls next year.

The next task for the Congress is to choose a chief ministerial candidate with both state Congress Chief DK Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah aspiring for the post.

On Sunday, the Congress party said in its resolution that the decision of selecting the Chief Minister has been left in the hands of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge.

After the results, outgoing CM Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday tendered his resignation to governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Congress over its victory in assembly polls. He appreciated the hard work of BJP workers and said that the party will serve Karnataka with even more vigour in the times to come.

“Congratulations to the Congress Party for their victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls. My best wishes to them in fulfilling people’s aspirations,” PM Modi said in a tweet.

He added, “I thank all those who have supported us in the Karnataka elections. I appreciate the hard work of BJP Karyakartas. We shall serve Karnataka with even more vigour in the times to come”.

Karnataka went to the polls on May 10 for the 224-member state assembly and saw a record polling of 72.68 per cent. A party needed 113 seats to get the majority.

Karnataka election results 2023: Region-wise tally

Six regions are considered key to winning an election in Karnataka. These are Bengaluru, Central Karnataka, Coastal Karnataka, Hyderabad Karnataka, Mumbai Karnataka and Southern Karnataka. 

According to the data available on the website of the ECI, the results in these regions stood as follows:

Central Karnataka

Congress- 24

Coastal Karnataka

BJP- 14

Hyderabad Karnataka

Congress- 16 

Mumbai Karnataka

Congress- 31

Southern Karnataka

Congress- 25