Mumbai, May 17: In the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018, the state got a fractured mandate. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, whereas the Congress remained victorious on 78 seats and Janata Dal (Secular) secured 37 seats. Three seats were won by Others.
In the late night political drama that took place in the wee hours of Thursday, the Congress and JD(S) filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision of inviting BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa for taking an oath.
The apex court, however, refused to put a stay on the oath-taking ceremony of Yeddyurappa, but it did not cancel the petition in whole. The court scheduled the hearing on Friday. Yeddyurappa is given 15 days’ time to prove majority.
The Congress-JDS alliance alleged that inviting BJP to claim a stake to the CM's chair would encourage horse-trading. The coalition has combined 115 seats in the assembly. In addition to this, two Others candidates have also extended their support to the alliance.
Seeing the political turmoil in Karnataka, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav has also said that the party would request Bihar Governor to dissolve JD(U)-BJP government, as their party had won 80 seats and emerged as the single-largest party. However, JD(U), who won 71 seats, was invited by the Bihar Governor to form the government. The BJP also extended support to Nitish Kumar to stake claim to the CM's chair.
Here is the party-wise assembly break up of Bihar, Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya:
States | Congress | BJP | JDU | RJD | NPP | Others | Total |
Bihar | 27 | 53 | 71 | 80 | - | 12 | 243 |
Goa | 17 | 13 | - | - | - | 10 | 40 |
Manipur | 28 | 21 | - | - | - | 9 | 60 |
Meghalaya | 21 | 2 | - | - | 19 | 17 | 60 |
(Note: One seat is still vacant in Meghalaya)
Similarly, in Manipur, Meghalaya, and Goa the Congress had emerged as the single-largest party in the respective assembly elections; still, the respective Governors of the states had invited BJP and its allies to stake claim to the chair.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 17, 2018 08:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).