The Election Commission of India on Wednesday announced that the poll in the southern state of Karnataka will be held on May 10, and the results will be declared on May 13.
The election for the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly is being considered one of the biggest polls of 2023 as it is expected to witness a close contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress.
However, even the Election Commission on Wednesday acknowledged that money and freebies would play a key role.
Which Party is Ruling in Karnataka?
India's rulling BJP currently has 121 lawmakers in Karnataka, compared to Congress' 70 and Janta Dal (Secular)'s 30 parlamentarians.
In the previous assembly election held in 2018, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 104 seats. The Indian National Congress (INC) and prominent regional party Janata Dal-Secular joined a coalition to form the state government under the leadership of JD (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Within a year, however, 15 lawmakers of the coalition had rebelled, switching to the BJP and thus, giving it the majority.
The BJP in Karnataka, led by two State Chiefs (B.S. Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai), says it will contest the upcoming polls with an agenda focusing on development and governance issues.
The election is important for the party because it is the only south Indian state where the BJP is currently ruling.
How Karnataka Election Plays on the National Level
With the parliamentary election less than 330 days away and the national party kicking off the general election campaign, the Karnataka state election begins the first major electoral battle in the 2024 national election.
The election also caught the attention of experts and globally, as the state government banned hijabs in educational institutions in 2020, prompting huge protests in the state, and different parts of the country erupted in sectarian violence. The matter is now pending in the Supreme Court of India.
The Congress party, confident it will for the Karnataka government this year, has already released a list of 124 candidates for the polls. Although the party is refraining from announcing the chief ministerial candidate, it is projecting former Karnataka state chief Siddaramaiah as the main candidate, also giving importance to DK Shivkumar as a prominent candidate.
Since early 2023, the Congress has been campaigning on the issues of corruption, good governance and development in the state.
Meanwhile, the regional party JDS is expected to be the kingmaker in the upcoming election in case of both the national parties -- BJP and Congress -- fail to get a majority. Currently, the party is maintaining distance from the BJP, as well as from Congress. In the past, it formed a coalition government with both parties.