The legislative elections in Karnataka resulted in a hung Assembly, with the Bharatiya Janata Party leading or winning in 104 seats, eight short of the majority mark. The Congress won 78 seats, and the Janata Dal (Secular) 37 seats.
However, the BJP almost doubled its vote share, securing 1.31 crore votes and 36.2% of the vote, up from 19.9% in the 2013 elections. The Congress secured 1.38 crore votes and 38% of the vote, 1.4% more than its 2013 number. The vote share of the Janata Dal (Secular) however, declined from 20.2% in 2013 to 18.4% in 2018. As many as 6.6 million people voted for the party.
Among regional parties, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, with one seat, secured just over a million votes – 0.3% of the vote share. Independents, who also secured a solitary seat, won four percent of the vote. The Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party secured 0.2% of the vote. As many as 3.22 lakh voters, or 0.9%, used the None of the Above option.
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