Cong should substantiate its charges on electoral process manipulation

An apparent bid to bolster its campaign against the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Congress has now dragged the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka into debate, raising questions over the credibility of the election process.

- RAMU PATIL Assistant Resident Editor [e-mail]

However, the Congress' claims of manipulation of electoral processes in the state hardly sound cogent. They also raise many questions about the party's stand and strategy.

After its decisive victory in the 2023 assembly elections in which it won 136 seats in the 224-member assembly, the Congress went into the Lok Sabha polls with confidence of repeating the feat. The party, however, failed to reach a double-digit mark and had to be satisfied with just nine out of 28 seats. The BJP won 17, and its alliance partner JD(S) won two seats. For Congress, this was still a better result compared to its worst-ever performance of winning only one Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 elections.

Immediately after the results were announced on June 4 in 2024, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar acknowledged that the party had not performed as well as they had expected. They were hoping to win around 15 seats in the state as the party was in power and the government had implemented guarantee schemes.