Modi's Hindu nationalist party loses India's Karnataka state in crucial polls ahead of national vote
Source: Associated Press
Modi’s Hindu nationalist party loses India’s Karnataka state in crucial polls ahead of national vote
By SHEIKH SAALIQ
May 13, 2023
NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s main opposition Congress party wrested control of the crucial southern Karnataka state from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, according to a near complete vote count Saturday that boosted its prospects ahead of national elections due next year.
The poll results are expected to energize the largely divided opposition that is banking on forming a united front to challenge Modi in next year’s general election in which he will seek to extend his prime ministership for a third consecutive term. They will also help prospects of the Congress party, which was routed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the last two national polls and is striving to regain its political prominence nationwide.
The defeat in Karnataka means Modi’s party, which was banking on his popularity, has lost the only southern state it has ever controlled and where its strident Hindu nationalist politics has found relatively slower reception than the rest of the country. Over the past several weeks, Modi had campaigned aggressively in Karnataka, home to 65 million people, and crisscrossed the state by holding huge roadshows.
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Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary, attributed the party’s win to having fought the election campaign on local issues of “livelihood and food security, price rise, farmer distress, electricity supply, joblessness, and corruption.”
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/india-karnataka-election-bjp-congress-5c4f5551ff209cda9b71fb0b55d3e065
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