Karnataka Assembly Election Results 2023: Why Lingayats, a traditional BJP vote bank, picked Congress

The Congress is all set to form the next government in Karnataka after registering a thumping victory in the Assembly elections. The Grand Old Party secured 135 constituencies in the 224-member House, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to bag 66 seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) got 19.

Among everything that went wrong for the saffron party, the disenchantment of the Lingayat community is also seen as a major factor. The split in Lingayat ballots likely worked in favour of the Grand Old Party which won nearly 43 per cent of the total vote share.

Why is the community’s vote significant and why did they prefer Congress? We explain.

Why Lingayat votes matter

Lingayats comprise 17 per cent of Karnataka’s population. This dominant voting bloc can swing the electoral results in around 80 seats, according to NDTV.

The community has a major influence in several seats in the six districts of Kittur-Karnataka. Lingayats also have a high presence in central Karnataka’s Davanagere, Shivamogga, and Chikkamagaluru districts.

Their clout in Karnataka politics is visible from the fact that around 45 per cent of the candidates nominated by the Congress, BJP and JD(S) were Lingayats or Vokkaligas – the other dominant caste group in the southern state, as per NDTV.

Lingayats have traditionally supported the BJP, while Vokkaligas have usually aligned with the Congress or JD(S).

Earlier, Lingayats used to side with the Congress before switching loyalty to the BJP in the 1990s after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi abruptly axed Lingayat chief minister Veerendra Patil.

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Lingayats’ resentment for BJP

It is believed their resentment had been simmering even before BJP’s heavyweight Lingayat leader BS Yediyurappa was made to step down as the Karnataka chief minister in July 2021.

As per ThePrint report, the Lingayats’ anger with the BJP was triggered after the party’s leaders started attacking Yediyurappa after he took over as the chief minister in 2019.

The BJP high command did not dissuade leaders like Basanagouda Patil Yatnal who frequently spoke against the 80-year-old, the report added.

Lingayat leaders told ThePrint that some BJP leaders even wrote anonymous letters seeking Yediyurappa’s removal.

Yediyurappa was forced to step down following a series of corruption allegations and was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai – another Lingayat leader.

At the time, Lingayat seers and community leaders had rallied behind Yediyurappa with one warning that removing the veteran would have huge consequences for the BJP.

Although the saffron party made several attempts to placate its traditional voter base, denying tickets to three prominent Lingayat leaders – Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi and Mahadevappa Yadawad – seems to have further upset the community.

Shettar and Savadi fought the 2023 Karnataka election as Congress candidates.

The Bommai government’s “inept handling” of the demand by Panchamasali Lingayats, a backward caste among the Lingayat community, for higher quota in the 2A category reservation under the Other Backward Classes was another “misstep”, as per The Times of India (TOI).

Notably, the BJP is considered to have the strongest influence among the Panchamshali Lingayats.

The Congress played up the perceived discontentment among the Lingayats by frequently alleging the BJP had “insulted and humiliated” the community.

In its last bid to attract the Lingayat and Vokkaliga votes, the BJP government in Karnataka scrapped the four per cent Other Backward Classes reservation for Muslims and decided to divide it between the two communities. However, it does not seem to have worked.

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How Lingayats voted

As per NDTV, the Congress won 53 of the 80 seats where Lingayat votes can swing the outcome, whereas, the BJP got only 20.

Out of 46 Lingayat candidates fielded by Congress, 37 won. The BJP which gave tickets to 69 candidates from the community, only 15 could mark a victory, as per TOI.

In the Lingayat-dominated Kittur-Karnataka region – comprising of Gadag, Belagavi, Haveri, Dharwad, Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts, the Congress nearly doubled its tally from the 2018 elections, securing 33 seats this time.

The BJP which had bagged 30 seats in the six districts of Kittur-Karnataka in 2018, managed to secure only 16 of the total 50 seats, noted ThePrint. The JD(S) won one seat in Vijayapura.

“There was a perception that Lingayats were averse to Congress, but that has been proven wrong in these elections. Lingayats from across regions have wholeheartedly supported us,” MB Patil, a Lingayat and chairman of Congress campaign committee, told TOI.

BJP’s Bommai, who succeeded Yediyurappa in 2021 as the chief minister, retained his seat from the Shiggaon constituency in Haveri district for a fourth consecutive term.

The saffron party’s Mahesh Tenginkai defeated Congress’ Shettar from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central seat by a margin of 34,289 votes. Both Shettar and Tenginkai have the same caste and sub-caste – Banajiga Lingayats.

Explaining why Shettar lost, a Lingayat leader told The Quint: “Shettar would have won only if the Lingayat vote had split in his constituency. But this did not happen as the Panchamasalis supported Tengikai over caste affiliation”.

The BJP turncoat also bore the brunt of Panchamasali Lingayats after he opposed their demand for larger quota.

“We felt that Tengikai, a fresh candidate from the community could help us get 2A reservation,” a Panchamasali Lingayat leader was quoted as saying by The Quint.

Savadi, the other prominent Lingayat leader who contested on Congress’ ticket, triumphed over BJP’s Mahesh Kumathalli in Athani with a margin of 76,122 votes.

Lingayat leaders told The Quint that it was Panchamasali Lingayats who favoured Savadi over Kumathalli.

BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra won from his father’s stronghold – the Shikaripura constituency. SP Nagarajagowda, a Sadar Lingayat who contested as an Independent, lost to Vijayendra by a margin of 11,008 votes, as per the Election Commission data.

Speaking to The Quint, a Lingayat leader said they voted on the basis of the candidates. “The community has not left the BJP, but in seats where the opposing candidates were not of our liking for reasons other than caste, we have voted for the Congress”.

According to The Quint, even as they backed the BJP, the Lingayats have driven home the point in these elections that their support is not “unconditional”.

With inputs from agencies

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