Karnataka Elections 2018: A crucial moment for Indian politics, and for more reasons than one

The Karnataka assembly elections will go a long way in setting the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It is the last major, centrally-important state in the Congress’ kitty. One would assume it would be Punjab, but since Punjab has only 13 Lok Sabha seats and Karnataka has 28, it is not even a contest. 

The Congress is desperately trying to regain its hold on the state, which has not seen the party in power win the assembly elections in over three decades. The party bore a significant hit last year when senior leader SM Krishna defected to the BJP. 

Both the BJP and the Congress have held strong campaigns in Karnataka this time. Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi have all made visits to the state. 

The campaigns took a controversial turn when recently, cash, sarees, sewing machines, laptops and alcohol, worth crores of rupees, were seized from different parts of Karnataka. These were allegedly going to be given to voters. 

Elections will be held on May 12 and the counting of votes will take place on May 15. As many as 224 assembly seats will be in contest. 

Listen to this podcast for more insight into the upcoming Karnataka elections.