Hyderabad: As the vote count in the Karnataka Assembly polls showed the BJP heading for a big win, as speculated JD (S), AIMIM, MEP, SDPI seems to have played the spoilsport to the ruling Congress on Tuesday.
Thanks to the split of Muslim and secular votes which is evident in the results, the BJP is all set to return to power in its southern bastion Karnataka as its candidates crossed the half-way mark in vote count, stunning and ousting the ruling Congress and leaving the JD-S at the third spot. The presence of the AIMIM and others in the fray have come as boon for the BJP since the Muslim outfits divided the minority votes, much to the discomfiture of the Congress.
However, despite BJP surging ahead the Karnataka poll chart, the vote share (till 12 noon) shows the people of Karnataka are still in favour of Congress with 37.8% and JD(s) along with its associates bite the big chunk of votes with 17.4% votes.
As tweeted by the Senior IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt quoting the BJP sources that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah are banking heavily on their investment in the JDS, MIM, AAP, BSP, MEP and the 1000+ Independent Candidates to split the secular vote in Karnataka” certainly evident in the early trends.
According to deep sources within the BJP, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are banking heavily on their investment in the JDS, MIM, AAP, BSP, MEP and the 1000+ Independent Candidates to split the secular vote in Karnataka.
— Sanjiv Bhatt (IPS) (@sanjivbhatt) May 11, 2018
There were many reports of secret alliance between BJP, JD(s), MIM and others to divide secular votes to benefit the saffron party. Secular voices from all the corners accused the JD(S) and its supporters to be a B-team of the saffron party.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi campaigned for JDS in the Assembly elections in Karnataka. He supported former PM HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular).
MIM party has decided to support JD (S) party in Karnataka Assembly elections @hd_kumaraswamy we want non congress & non BJP govt in Karnataka for a qualitative development .MIM will not be fielding any candidates I will address public meetings support of JD(S) if there is need
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) April 16, 2018
Karnataka has a sizeable Muslim population and the ruling Congress had attempted to consolidate non-BJP votes. AIMIM, MEP, SDPI’s support to JD (S) assured a major divide of Muslim votes in the region.
JD (S) had floated Muslim candidates in areas where there is sizeable Muslim population in order to counter Congress candidates which is reportedly benefited BJP.