Karnataka Elections 2023: How Has the State Voted in the Past 5 Assembly Polls?

Did you know that Congress had the single-largest vote share in every Karnataka Assembly election from 1999 to 2018?

The results of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election will be announced on 13 May.

(Photo: The Quint)

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Did you know that the Congress has been the party with the single-largest vote share in every Assembly election in Karnataka from 1999 to 2018?

So, even in the Assembly elections in which BJP emerged as the party with the highest number of seats in the state, they had a smaller vote share than the Congress.

As we wait for the final results of the Karnataka Assembly election, here’s a look back at the interesting data insights from how the state has voted in the past two and a half decades.

What the Karnataka Assembly Looked Like, From 1999 to 2018

In the interactive below, click on a particular year to view what the Assembly looked like post the Karnataka election in that year.

And tap on the seats to view each party's tally in that particular election.

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The Race for Number One

Here's an interactive to take a closer look at how the biggest parties in the state fared in comparison to each other, in different Karnataka elections over the years.

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• Congress: If we take a look at all the Karnataka Assembly elections since 1999, the Indian National Congress got its biggest haul (132) in 1999 itself. Most recently, the party's tally fell from 122 seats in 2013 to 80 seats in 2018.

• BJP: From 1999, the tally of the Bharatiya Janata Party kept increasing drastically from 44 in 1999, to 79 in 2004, to 110 in 2008. But the saffron party suffered a setback in 2013, and was brought back to a tally of 40 seats. The party recovered in 2018, becoming the single largest party in the state with 104 seats.

• JD(S): The Janata Dal (Secular) went up from 28 seats in 2008 to 40 in 2013. In 2018, their tally dropped but only slightly, coming down to 37. However, with no party having reached the majority mark in 2018, the JD(S)' tally in 2018 helped them become the post-poll kingmaker.

The Swings in Vote Share

Check out how the vote share percentages of the BJP, Congress, JD(S) and Others have changed in Karnataka Assembly elections over the years.

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As you can see in the interactive above, interestingly enough, from 1999 to 2018, Congress has been the party with the single-largest vote share in every Assembly election in Karnataka — even on occasions when BJP emerged as the party with the highest number of seats!

(The interactive will be displayed below. Please wait for a few seconds if it hasn’t loaded yet on your screen.)

But How Have These Parties Fared in Lok Sabha Election Results in Karnataka?

Here's how Lok Sabha election results in the state have been in the past two and a half decades.

In 2019, the BJP won 25 out of Karnataka's 28 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress and JD(S) got one seat each. The BJP's domination in the 2019 election was an improvement on their 2014 results, when the BJP had won 17 seats and the Congress had won 9 seats in the state.

How different will the results of the 2023 Assembly elections be from those of elections past? All eyes now on the final numbers on Counting Day!

(Interactive data visualisations by Somayya Shakir and Naman Shah)