The Congress has comfortably secured majority in the Karnataka Assembly election 2023. As per Election Commission of India (ECI) data, Congress has won 114 seats and is leading on 22, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged victorious on 50 seats and is leading on 14. The BJP was expected to give a stiff competition to the Congress but failed. Several incumbent ministers of the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government and the Assembly Speaker have lost the election. For the Congress, there was only one major upset in the form of veteran leader Jagadish Shettar, who was defeated from the Hubli-Darwad Central seat.


Here we take a look at some big upsets in the Karnataka Assembly elections.


Jagadish Shettar (Congress)


Former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar, who left the BJP and joined the Congress before the assembly elections in the state lost from the VIP seat of Hubli-Darwad Central by over 30,000 votes against BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai. The EC numbers show that BJP's Tenginkai secured 64,910 votes, while Congress candidate Shettar got 29,340 votes.


A six-time MLA, Shettar joined the Congress last month after he was denied a ticket by the BJP to contest from Hubli-Dharwad Central. Shettar alleged "ill-treatment" by the BJP before quitting the party.


 C T Ravi (BJP) 


Prominent BJP leader and four-time MLA from the Chikkamaguluru assembly constituency, C T Ravi once again contested from the seat against Janata Dal Secular's Thimmashetty and Congress's HD Thammaiah and has been trailing since counting started in the morning.


In 2018, BJP's CT Ravi won the Chikmagalur Assembly Election by defeating Congress's Shankar BL with a margin of 26,314 votes. Since then, Ravi has been winning from the constituency.


Other BJP Ministers To Be Defeated


Other BJP stalwarts to lose the election are B Sriramulu, K Sudhakar, J C Madhuswamy, Govind Karjol, M T B Nagaraj and K C Narayana Gowda aside from Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri.



  • The Assembly Speaker lost to Bhimanna Naik of Congress from the Sirsi consituency.

  • While Sriramulu, the Transport Minister was defeated by B Nagendra of Congress in Ballari by nearly 29,300 votes.

  • Health Minister K Sudhakar lost to Pradeep Eshwar (Congress) in Chikkaballapura

  • Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Maduswamy was defeated by C B Suresh Babu of JD(S) in Chikkanayakanahalli.