How Karnataka voted: Here is the caste wise break-up

In the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections it became clear that a bulk of the Lingayat votes went to the BJP. The party however fell short of the majority mark and ended up with 104 seats.

Let us take a look at how the state voted. The Congress ended up with a vote share of 38 per cent and the BJP got 36.2 per cent. The JD(S) on the other hand got 18.3 per cent of the vote share. This indicates that there was no anti-incumbency factor and the Congress's vote share more or less the same compared to 2013. The BJP along with the KJP and BSR Congress in 2013 had secured a vote share of 32.3 per cent.

The BJP performed well in the coastal region by winning 18 of the 21 seats. The vote share it recorded was at 50 per cent. However in the South Karnataka region, the BJP only bagged 9 out of the 51 seats. The JD(S) on the other hand gained and won 25 seats here. The Congress however gained in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region by making a gain of 7.6 per cent in terms of vote share when compared to 2013. This year the party got a vote share of 42.2 per cent.

Ahead of the elections, Siddaramaiah pushed heavily for a caste coalition in the form of AHINDA. It appears that the dividends did not pay off in the final tally. The Lingayat issue also backfired and the BJP polled 62 per cent of the votes from this community. The BJP also gained from the upper caste votes by polling 52 per cent of the votes.

The Congress made small gains from the OBCs by polling 40 per cent, but the BJP was a close second with 37 per cent. Siddaramaiah scored with the Dalit votes and bagged 48 per cent when compared to the 28 per cent by the BJP. A CSDS survey however had this surprise when it came to the Christian votes. It says that 40 per cent voted for the BJP.

Among the Adivasis, the Congress polled 46 per cent, the BJP 32 and JD(S) 17 per cent.
The CSDS survey also shows that 65 per cent of the Muslims backed the Congress. The Congress polled 42 per cent among the poor and 39 per cent among the lower class. In the middle and upper class section, 34 per cent and 33 per cent went in favour of the Congress.