I Am Taking Responsibility Of Defeat, Will Analyse Our Faults: Bommai On Karnataka Election Result

As the counting progressed through the day and Congress maintained a lead, Bommai conceded BJP's defeat in Karnataka

Outgoing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai took the responsibility for Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in Karnataka on Saturday as Congress clean sweeped the mandate in the southern state. Talking to reporters, Bommai said, "I'm taking responsibility for the defeat. There are many reasons for the defeat, we will analyse everything as we are a national party. We will also analyse all our faults and we will bounce back in the Parliament elections: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai." 

As per the data by the Election Commission of India, Congress won 136 out of 224 seats in Karnataka Assembly, for which the elections were held on May 10. 

As the counting progressed through the day and Congress maintained a lead, Bommai conceded defeat and said, "We will take result in our stride, we will reorganize the party and come back in Lok Sabha election."

The counting process began at 8 am across 36 centres throughout the state. The voting on May 10 witnessed a "record" turnout of 73.19 per cent, as citizens cast their votes to elect representatives for the 224-member Assembly.

BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the House in the 2018 election, winning 104 seats. In the 2018 polls, the Congress party won 80 seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulted the Congress party for its victory in the state, which the BJP considers as "gateway to the south." 

"Congratulations to the Congress Party for their victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls. My best wishes to them in fulfilling people’s aspirations," tweeted Modi.

With Karnataka going to Congress, the BJP now holds no power in any of the southern states of the country now. 

The state saw a three-cornered fight between the incumbent BJP, an aggressive Congress and the Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular).

A total of 2,615 candidates were in the fray. Karnataka has 224 constituencies spanning six regions -- Bengaluru, Central, Coastal, Hyderabad-Karnataka, Mumbai-Karnataka and Southern Karnataka or Old Mysore region. Mumbai-Karnataka and Southern Karnataka are the largest regions of the state and consist of 50 and 51 Assembly seats respectively.