While Congress is all set to assume power in Karnataka, the party lost to Bharatiya Janata Party in Bengaluru.
The Congress managed to win just 13 of the total 28 seats in Bengaluru, the biggest district in Karnataka.
Out of the seven constituencies in Bengaluru Urban, BJP has bagged five, whereas Congress has two.
BJP won Mahadevapura, Yelahanka, Dasarahalli, Yeshwanthapura and Bangalore South constituencies, whereas Congress emerged victorious in Byatarayanapura and Anekal.
The importance of the city was also seen during the last leg of the campaigning when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took out a massive 26-km roadshow.
Some pollsters said lower voter turnout worked in favour of BJP. Bengaluru Urban recorded 54.53% voter turnout in 2023 even though workplaces were asked to be shut on Wednesday (May 10).
Urban apathy is being attributed as the reason for BJP's win in the 'Silicon Valley of India'. Pollsters quipped even images of flooded streets of the state capital that captured national headlines couldn't make a dent in BJP's standing in the city.
However, what worked for the saffron party in Bengaluru didn't work elsewhere in the state.
The Congress wrested power from the BJP with a comfortable win in the Assembly polls. According to the Election Commission website at 9.30 pm, the party emerged on top in 135 seats and was leading in one seat. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party is poised to win 65 seats, having already won 61 seats and leading on four more.
Twitter users said BJP kept pushing PM Modi as the face of the party, which would work for Lok Sabha elections but not for assembly elections.
Congress won the rural votes, especially the ones that Rahul Gandhi covered as part of Bharat Jodo Yatra and BJP is said to have lost the plot there
A campaign against corruption, guarantees of dole and consolidation of Muslim votes appear to have underpinned the Congress victory in Karnataka that was also aided by anti-incumbency against the BJP government, reported PTI on Saturday.
The party's' all-out attack on the BJP government over corruption allegations with the ''40 per cent commission sarkar'' barb, coupled with the Adani issue struck a chord with the people, according to party leaders.
The Congress pledged to implement on the very first day after coming to power its poll guarantees like 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya).
Also, Rs 3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti) were promised.
The party had promised to restore the four per cent quota for Muslims which has been scrapped by the BJP government.
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The Congress manifesto's promise of banning the Bajrang Dal was picked up by the BJP and PM Modi aggressively to portray the grand old party as being against Lord Hanuman and the sentiments of Hindus.
The Congress was aiming to attract the Lingayat vote base of the BJP by trying to project that the saffron party was neglecting the community.
While pointing at instances such as the alleged sidelining of Lingayat community leaders in the party like B S Yediyurappa, the Congress got more ammunition in a way when two senior BJP leaders from the dominant community - Jagadish Shettar (former CM) and Laxman Savadi (former Deputy CM) - joined the party over being denied ticket to contest the polls by the BJP.
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi repeatedly invoked 12th Century social reformer Basavanna in their speeches while accusing the BJP of spreading communal hatred.
At a time when it seemed like all was going well for it, Congress also waded into controversies with Siddaramaiah's statement that ''there's already a Lingayat CM who is the most corrupt", which the BJP turned into an "insult" to the entire Lingayat community.
Mallikarjun Kharge's ''venomous snake'' barb at Prime Minister Modi and then his son and Chittapur MLA Priyank Kharge's "nalayak beta" (incompetent son) remark against him, were also latched onto by the BJP which had urged the voters to punish the Congress for its ''politics of abuse''.
By voting Congress to power, the people of Karnataka have once again followed the tradition of not voting back the ruling party since 1985.
This is also the Congress' best-ever performance since 1999, when the party came to power by winning 132 seats and formed the government with S M Krishna as the chief minister.
''I am happy we contested the Karnataka polls without using hate, bad language. We fought the polls with love. In Karnataka, 'nafrat ka bazaar (market of hate)' has closed down', 'mohabbat ki dukaanein' (shops of love) have opened,'' Rahul Gandhi said.
With inputs from PTI