Congress caught in tricky numbers game

Figures suggest that the Dal had to lose 13 seats it held earlier due to the fall in its percentage of votes. But the Lok Shakti, in its first ever attempt at fighting elections, cornered an impressive 11.30 per cent of the votes polled, gaining three seats.

The BJP that had won six seats in May’96 elections securing 24.05 of the votes polled, has improved its performance by 2.43 percent of votes. This time, the BJP got 26.48 per cent of the total votes polled.

Though the appreciation in the percentage ofvotes in favour of the BJP was only 2.43 per cent, the gain in terms of seats due to this rise was seven.

In contrast, the appreciation of the percentage of votes in favour of the Congress as compared to the previous Lok Sabha elections was 5.35 per cent. Yet, the gain in terms of the number of seats was not corresponding. The Congress that had got 30.29 per cent of votes in the last elections, had won five seats. Though its performance was better in comparison to the BJP, it was able to win only four extra seats.

The total number of votes polled in the current elections in Karnataka is 2,14,74,845. The Congress secured 76,52,722 votes, the BJP got 56,85,923 votes and the Janata Dal polled 45,74,223 votes. Lok Shakti that faced the Lok Sabha elections for the first time secured an astounding 24,24,694 votes.

The BJP-Lok Shakti combine together has secured 81,10,617 votes and in terms of percentage this is 37.77 per cent of the total votes polled. The BJP-Lok Shakti is ahead of the Congress only by4,67,895 votes.

Though there has not been any great difference in the number of votes polled between the Congress and the BJP-Lok Shakti combine, in terms of gains in seats, there is a marked difference. The combine bagged a stupendous 16 seats while the Congress only nine.

The BJP-Lok Shakti combine, Janata Dal, Congress and S Bangarappa’s Karnataka Vikas Party (KVP) had together secured 96.26 of the total votes polled. The remaining 3.76 of the votes polled were distributed among the other players in the fray. The other players include Bahujan Samaj Party, Samata Party(SP), Raitha Sangh, CPM and independents. All these parties and candidates together got only 8,06,915 votes.

In the 1996 elections, S Bangarappa’s Karnataka Congress Party (KCP) – no more existing – had polled 3.76 per cent of the votes polled, besides winning the Shimoga seat. But his new outfit, the KVP, had secured only 1.54 per cent of votes. This shows, the Bangarappa outfit’s appeal has fallen by 1.57 per cent. The party has notwon even a single seat though it contested 19 seats. The KVP candidates secured only 3,30,368 votes.