HT’s coverage on Karnataka assembly election 2023: From campaigns to CM race

Three central observers appointed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Karnataka, arrived in Delhi on Monday to present their report to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the question of appointing the chief minister of the State. Read more

The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a regional outfit at the forefront of the agitation of Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka, lost all the six seats it contested in the recent assembly elections – the results of which were announced on Saturday. Read more

Even as the Congress is struggling to find an amicable solution to conflict over the chief minister’s post, the demand for cabinet berths has already begun. Read more

The Congress outperformed the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) on the winning rate for candidates from the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities in the recent assembly elections. Read more

Ahead of Karnataka’s incoming chief minister Siddaramaiah’s oath-taking ceremony at 12:30 pm today at Bengaluru’s Kanteerava stadium, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge said that eight MLAs will be sworn in as ministers in the cabinet, news agency ANI reported. Read more

Experts had predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to drive the BJP’s campaigns on the personal comments made on him by the Congress are unlikely to work in Karnataka. Read more to know why.

The BJP’s central leadership appointed former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai as the chairman of the party’s campaign committee for the May 10 assembly elections in the state, which was seen as a move to curtail the influence of B S Yediyurappa over the state unit. But did this move work for the saffron party? Read more

With many believing that Lingayat strongman Yediyurappa was forced to resign as chief minister by the BJP in 2021, experts said this hurt the party’s Lingayat votebank. Ahead of the elections, the BJP seemed to realise their mistake and sought to play up Yediyurappa’s role in the campaign, but it did not work. Read more

Karnataka Congress leader G Parameshwara declared himself pleased that ‘the entire exercise (on Karnataka CM decision) has been settled “amicably”. “Mine is not an individual question. Mine is not so important compared to the party position. The party is supreme… they have settled the matter. Everything is nice… it was a good settlement. In the future, we all work together,” he said. Read more

Considered a strong contender for the chief minister’s post after the party’s huge win in the state assembly elections, Shivakumar revealed that he was not dismayed about settling for the deputy CM position after days of negotiations. “Why should I be upset? There is a long way to go,” he told ANI. Read more

Shortly after Kharge came to a decision on the next Karnataka CM, the top two contenders of the post met up at his residence and put up a united front, with Randeep Surjewala sharing a photo of them, captioning it “The Winning Team”. Read more.

The Bharatiya Janata Party believes that guarantees from the Congress that promised 200 units of free power to all households, ₹2,000 to the woman head of every family per month, and free travel for women caused it to lose support from women voters in Karnataka, a loss that hurt it overall, but especially in constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Read more

Born on August 12, 1948, Siddaramaiah graduated from Mysore University with a B.Sc. degree and later studied law at the same institution and pursued it as a profession for some time. Read more

After days of uncertainty, Congress has come to a decision on who would be the Karnataka’s next chief minister. Siddaramaiah will hold the state’s top position and Shivakumar will be the second-in-command. Read more

Karnataka chief ministerial contenders have agreed to a compromise formula with Siddaramaiah set to get the state’s top elected post while DK Shivakumar will be his deputy and remain the state party chief as the Congress resolved a stalemate over the matter after three days of negotiations. The formula was agreed upon late on Wednesday after a meeting with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Read more

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Thursday said he had agreed to becoming deputy chief minister in the larger interests of the Congress. Read more

The Congress has called a meeting of its legislative party on Thursday ahead of the expected announcement of Siddaramaiah as the Karnataka chief minister and DK Shivakumar as his deputy. Read more

Karnataka deputy CM designate and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that the southern state’s secure future and its peoples welfare is the party’s top priority, and asserted that the party leaders are all “united” in guaranteeing that. Read more

Are you sure we are winning so comfortably?” the senior Congress leader’s voice on the phone sounded anxious. It was the night before counting day in Karnataka where an AxisMyIndia exit poll for India Today predicted a big win for the Congress. Read more

Karnataka governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Thursday invited chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and his to-be deputy DK Shivakumar to take oath along with team members at Kanteerava Stadium Bengaluru at 12.30pm on May 20. Read more

The term Ahinda may have been coined by the late Devaraj Urs, K’taka’s first chief minister, in the 1970s, but Siddaramaiah has given his own spin to the term. Read more

After the resounding victory of the Congress in the assembly elections in Karnataka, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy on Thursday called upon all those leaders who had defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party to return to the Congress fold. Read more

The outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said that former Prime Minister, HD Deve Gowda is a senior leader who will guide everyone when it comes to land, water, and language of Karnataka. Read more

Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru. Read more

A sub-inspector and a constable have been suspended for allegedly torturing nine men for displaying a banner taunting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Karnataka chief Nalin Kumar Kateel and former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda at Puttur in the Dakshina Kannada district. Read more

Outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said the BJP will bounce back in the state and asserted that the party has not lost its self-confidence. Read more

As the big question on Karnataka’s next chief minister was resolved on Thursday — Siddaramaiah will head the state, DK Shivakumar will be his deputy and remain state party chief till the Lok Sabha polls next year— it now remains to be seen what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will do. Read more

Ahead of Karnataka’s incoming chief minister Siddaramaiah’s oath-taking ceremony at 12:30 pm today at Bengaluru’s Kanteerava stadium, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge said that eight MLAs will be sworn in as ministers in the cabinet, news agency ANI reported. Read more

Karnataka is the second state after Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress has formed a government. The Himachal Pradesh playbook was also re-purposed in Karnataka where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was struggling with a strong anti-incumbency against its corrupt government. Read more

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) national president Jayant Chaudhary will attend the swearing-in of Congress leader Siddaramaiah as Karnataka chief minister in Bengaluru on Saturday. Read more

Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar held meetings with leaders of the Congress high command to finalise names of ministers to be inducted into the cabinet, people familiar with the developments said on Friday. Read more

In a show of opposition unity, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and a host of leaders will reach Karnataka for the swearing-in ceremony of Congress leader Siddaramaiah as the state’s CM, a coming together of a non-BJP bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Read more

More than one lakh people are expected to take part in Siddaramaiah’s swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, said Congress office-bearers. Read more

Supporters of Karnataka CM-designate Siddaramaiah sing songs and distribute sweets outside his residence in Bengaluru, ahead of his swearing-in ceremony.

BJP MLA and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s son, BY Vijayendra on Friday took a dig at the Congress party for not offering the post of chief minister or deputy chief minister to the Lingayats. Read more