BJP got a lesser vote share than the Congress in Karnataka for the second consecutive time in assembly elections but the saffron party was perched on the top of the seat tally.
BANGALORE: BJP got a lesser vote share than the Congress in Karnataka for the second consecutive time in assembly elections but the saffron party was perched on the top of the seat tally on both the occasions.
And this time around, a 5.3 per cent swing in favour of the saffron party saw it get an additional 31 seats to break the century barrier in a dream run that helped the lotus bloom for the first time in the South, according to voting percentages available with the Election Commission.
The trend of a higher vote share like in the case of Congress not translating into seats is not uncommon, say election observers, adding that minor vote swings can have an impact on seat tallies.
The BJP got 33.8 per cent votes in the 2008 elections to garner 110 seats and emerge the single largest party but a marginally higher vote share for the Congress did not yield corresponding dividends.
The Congress polled 34.5 per cent votes to get 80 seats. However, it had the consolation of getting 15 more seats despite its vote share shrinking by 0.8 per cent. Last time the Congress got 35.3 per cent votes.
In 2004 elections too, the BJP was placed second in terms of ballots polled getting 28.5 per cent votes but was on top of the seat table getting 79 seats.
In the case of JDS, a 1.4 per cent negative swing against the party made a huge dent into its seat tally.
The party of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda managed only 28 seats down from 58 in 2004 when it tallied 20.6 per cent votes.
A mere analysis of the seats secured by the BJP in Karnataka since 1985 showed the saffron party blooming slowly but steadily to the pinnacle of power. The party made is debut in the Assembly in 1983 when it got 18 seats.
In the 1985 elections, BJP could win only two seats after contesting 116. Four years later it managed to just double its kitty bagging four seats. The saffron party got 40 and 44 seats in 1994 and 1999 respectively.
It was in 2004 that the BJP became a force to reckon with emerging as the single largest party in Karnataka garnering 79 seats and capped the rise touching 110 in the recent elections.
The vote share of the BJP was in fact in single digits in the first three elections it contested but crossed ten per cent in the four elections from 1994.
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