Lok Sabha Election 2019: Congress, JD(S) seal seat-sharing deal in Karnataka

Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) on Wednesday sealed the seat-sharing agreement in Karnataka ahead of the Lok Sabha Election 2019. According to the formula, Congress will contest on 20 seats while JD(S) will get 8 seats out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi met JD(S) General Secretary Danish Ali at Cochin, Kerala on Wednesday to finalize the Lok Sabha constituencies of Karnataka.

According to reports, JD(S) will contest from Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Shimoga, Tumkur, Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru North and Vijayapura constituencies. 

The Congress had agreed to give Tumkur, which it had won in 2014, to JD(S) while it will keep the Mysuru seat. 

It was reported that JD(S) had initially demanded 12 seats from the Congress. On the other hand, the Congress was unwilling to give more than six seats.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP had won 17 seats, while the Congress and JD(S) had finished with 9 and 2 seats respectively. The BJP had polled 43% of votes, while the combined vote share of the Congress and the JD(S) was around 52%.