While the voters of Karnataka gave a big thumbs up to Bharatiya Janata Party in recent Lok Sabha polls, in an unpredictable way, they chose to vote for Congress in local body polls.
The local body elections to 1361 wards in state were held on May 29. The counting to local body polls in Karnataka, having 8 municipal cities and 33 municipal towns, is currently underway. The figures that have come out till now indicate that Congress is more likely to win more than 50% of the wards.
Congress, which emerged as biggest gainer, has won 90 out of 217 seats of Municipal Council. While BJP gained 56 seats, JD(S) took 30 wards and others earned 33. When it comes to town municipalities, BJP performed better by winning 126 of 290 declared seats, whereas Congress has won 97 wards. So far, Congress secured around 509 seats and BJP, 366 wards. Final tally is likely to come out either on Friday midnight or in early hours of Saturday.
Definitely, these results are not a good sign for BJP, that is looking to gain power in Karnataka by attracting the MLA of Congress and JD(S). At the same time, it will boost the morale of JD(S) and Congress workers in the state.