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    Karnataka Election Results: 10 Takeaways for National Politics After Congress Sweep Down South.

    Nalin MehtaBy Updated:No Comments2 Mins Read

    This opinion was first published on  news18.com |  MAY 13, 2023.

    Congress’s Karnataka weep in the only state south of the Vindhyas, where the BJP held power, portends new implications for our larger polity.

    Here are 10 takeaways from Congress’s big win in Karnataka:

    Morale-booster for Congress: With a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the ruling BJP in a state that hasn’t elected an incumbent to power in over three decades, the Congress was always expected to win Karnataka. But the scale of the victory – 136 seats with over 43 percent vote share and a 7 percent gap with the BJP – is a huge morale booster for the main national opposition party.

    Control of a vital state: The Congress last beat the BJP in Himachal Pradesh in a head-to-head contest. But the political impact of the Karnataka win is higher. The state has the third highest GSDP (gross state domestic product) in India (after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu). Winning control of such a prosperous and politically significant state is a big fillip to the Congress on the road to 2024.

    Bargaining power in opposition alliance: With efforts on for opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, this result will strengthen the Congress’s hands and bargaining power as the pre-eminent national party opposing the BJP.

    Campaign lessons for upcoming state elections: Karnataka will be followed by assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh….

    Karnataka 2024 is a different story: Karnataka has historically voted differently in state and national elections over the past three decades. While the Congress will be greatly enthused by this win, it would be premature to extrapolate these results to the 28 Lok Sabha seats of Karnataka….

    Read full opinion on news18.com

    This opinion was first published on  news18.com |  MAY 13, 2023.

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    Nalin Mehta is Managing Editor, Moneycontrol, Chief AI Officer - Editorial Operations, Network18 and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He is an award-winning Indian journalist, political scientist and author who has held senior leadership positions in major media companies and educational institutions; served as an international civil servant with the UN and the Global Fund in Geneva, Switzerland; taught and held research positions at universities and institutions in Australia (La Trobe University, ANU), Singapore (NUS), Switzerland (International Olympic Museum) and India (Shiv Nadar University, IIM Bangalore). Most recently, he has been Dean and Professor at School of Modern Media, UPES University. He has previously been Group Consulting Editor, Network18; Executive Editor, The Times of India-Online, Managing Editor, India Today (TV channel) and Consulting Editor, The Times of India. Mehta is the author of several best-selling and critically acclaimed books, including The New BJP: Modi and the Making of the World’s Largest Political Party (hailed as a ‘seminal’ work, No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller lists for 26 consecutive weeks in 2022, and republished worldwide in several languages); India’s Techade: Digital Revolution and Change in the World’s Largest Democracy, India on Television (Asian Publishing Award for Best Book on Asian Media, 2009), Behind a Billion Screens (Longlisted as Business Book of the Year, Tata Literature Live, 2015) and Dreams of a Billion (2022 Ekamra Sports Book of the Year Award, co-authored). His edited books include Gujarat Beyond Gandhi (co-editor), Television in India and The Changing Face of Cricket (co-editor). Mehta is a DFID-Commonwealth scholar with a Ph.D in Political Science from Trobe University, Melbourne; M.A. International Relations from University of East Anglia, UK; and B.A. Journalism (Honours) from University of Delhi.

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