Karnataka Election: Why Is It Important?

The Karnataka election was praised for its high voter turnout; however, since then it has been a boiling soup of controversies.

The elections resulted in BJP winning more seats but being unable to prove its majority. Yeddyurappa was invited by the Governor of Karnataka Vajubhai Vala to form the government and was given a 15-day window to prove his majority. However, the Supreme Court slashed the window by calling for a floor test on May 19^th.

Yeddyurappa resigned after giving an emotional speech stating that the government will win 28 out of 28 seats in the 2019 general elections. He said that he will continue to fight for the people of Karnataka.

This resignation paved the way for the JD(S) government led by HD Kumaraswamy to form the government with the backing of Congress. Yeddyurappa termed this alliance as unholy as JD(S) and Congress were calling each other names before the polls.

This controversy has taken a new turn as the Induction of the State Cabinet Ministers hasn’t been a smooth ride. Both parties have taken a significant amount of time to choose their Ministers and still have more Ministers to choose. JD(S) has one spot left and Congress still has six.

Many MLAs primarily from the Congress Party have protested against their inclusion in the Cabinet Ministry. The controversy is especially prevalent in the Lingayat caste bloc as prominent Lingayat leaders such as MB Patil, Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Eshwar Khandrehave have not been selected.

This led to many protests especially by the gram panchayat members in MB Patil’s hometown. These members are threatening to resign from their elected posts. BK Sangameshwar from Shivamogga has also protested against his non-inclusion. This comes after he was approached by BJP before the trust vote on May 19 and refused to help as Congress promised him a ministry.

This has led to the Congress-JD(S) alliance being questioned continually. This means a lot for all the parties involved especially Congress and BJP as the 2019 general elections are hardly a year away. If BJP had won the elections they would have established a government in South India where their support is highly lacking especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, things aren’t sailing smoothly for Congress either, as it has yet failed to show good governance in Karnataka.

This political ball game has been going on for a long time between BJP and Congress and there seems to be no end to it. Whether the controversies that the Karnataka elections were riddled with will affect the 2019 general elections is yet to be seen.