The 2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election took place in three phases on 10, 16 and 22 May 2008 in all the 224 assembly

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The elections were conducted to elect a Government in the state of Karnataka for the next five years. The votes were counted on 25 May and due to the use of electronic voting machines, all the results were out by the afternoon itself. The

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

emerged victorious winning 110 seats. Although the party fell short of a clear majority, it was able to form the government with the support of 6 independents. This was the first time BJP came to power on its own in Karnataka and any south Indian state.

Background

In the 2004 Karnataka elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 79 out of the 224 seats. However, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

with 65 members and the

Janata Dal (Secular) {{Infobox Indian Political Party , party_name = Janata Dal (Secular) , party_logo = , colorcode = {{party color, Janata Dal (Secular) , abbreviation = JD(S) , president = H. D. Deve Gowda , founder ...

with 58 members formed a coalition government with Dharam Singh of the Congress as

Chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

. However, in early 2006, the JD(S) withdrew its support to the government and instead formed an alliance with the BJP and

H. D. Kumaraswamy Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy (born 16 December 1959) is an Indian politician and film producer who is serving as the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Minister of Heavy Industries and Ministry of Steel, Steel of India since 10 June 2024. He ...

of the JD(S) became

. The arrangement was based on an agreement that Kumaraswamy would be the Chief Minister for the first 20 months and B.S. Yeddyurappa of the BJP would be Chief Minister for the next 20 months. The alliance between the BJP and the JD(S) collapsed in October 2007 after Kumaraswamy refused to let Yeddyurappa take over as Chief minister as had been agreed upon in 2006. They briefly got together and formed a short-lived government headed by Yeddyurappa in November 2007 but it quickly collapsed due to disagreements over power-sharing. As a result, the state came under the president's rule and new elections were called for.

Schedule

The

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

announced that polling would be held in a three phases on 10th, 16th and 22 May and that results would be declared on 25 May. It also declared that the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct "came into force with immediate effect" with the said announcement.

Parties and Alliances

Campaign

The state was the first in India to vote after the electoral constituencies had been redrawn based on new population data. The BJP campaigned on the high rate of

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

and criticized the national

United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...

government for being soft on

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. The party called on the voters to give the party a chance in Karnataka. But the main election plank of the party was the betrayal of the JD (S) and the good budgets presented by Yeddyurappa when he was finance minister in the coalition government. The Congress party pledged to reign in prices, improve the infrastructure of the state, and provide a stable government.

Results

Results by district

Results by constituency

Source: ''Sources:

, Times of India, News 18, News Minute''

Aftermath

Although the BJP fell 3 seats short of getting an absolute majority, B. S. Yeddyurappa was able to become chief minister with the support of 6

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

members of the assembly. He was sworn in as Chief minister on 30 May 2008 along with a 30 strong Cabinet, which included 5 of the 6 independents who had agreed to back the BJP. Jagadish Shettar was elected speaker on 5 June and a vote of confidence was passed by voice vote on 6 June after the opposition walked out.

References

External links

Karnataka constituency results
{{Karnataka elections 2008 State Assembly elections in India State Assembly elections in Karnataka 2000s in Karnataka