Congress gets slight edge in Karnataka civic polls

​Bengaluru: Establishing a slight edge over BJP in a closely fought race in urban local bodies polls in Karnataka, the Congress is set to gain control of a majority of the ULBs, teaming up with its ruling coalition partner JDS. The Congress has secured 982 seats and the BJP 929 in the elections held Saturday, while JD(S) came a distant third with 375 seats, according to the state election commission results.

The others, including 329 independents, bagged the rest of the seats in the three-way race with Congress and JDS fighting against each other, despite being coalition partners. Both the Congress and JDS have declared that they would tie-up in ULBs which have produced a hung verdict. Elections were held for three city corporations, 29 city municipal councils (CMC), 52 town municipal councils (TMC) and 20 Town Panchayats (TP). Results for 2,662 of the 2,709 seats for which polls were held have been declared. With the combined strength of Congress and JD(S) securing 1,357 seats, they enjoy a clear edge over the BJP to seize control of a majority of the ULBs.

These elections were considered the first test of popularity of the Congress-JDS coalition government, which was formed post-May assembly polls when it yielded a hung verdict. The BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the assembly polls, but failed to shore up the numbers in its bid to form the government.

The ULB polls were also considered as indicative of the voters' mood before the next Lok Sabha elections. Buoyed by the results, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said it was a "befitting answer" to those who were saying that the coalition government was weak. "The results have silenced all those who have been saying that Congress has weakened," said Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao.