The Karnataka story in 10 points - a newsletter by Sukumar Ranganathan

Read these 10 stories to better understand the Karnataka election results.

Here are 10 stories - focused sharply on the Karnataka elections, which the Congress won easily (in the end), registering a vote share that it has not seen in 34 years - that you should read to understand the results.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar during celebrations after the party's win in the Karnataka assembly elections, in Bengaluru on Saturday. (PTI) (HT_PRINT)

1. The Congress focused on local leaders and local issues; the BJP sought to make it a presidential contest; and the Janata Dal (Secular) thought it could continue to play kingmaker. In the end, local issues and local leaders won. That’s the story of this election in brief. For a detailed wrap, click here.
2. The BJP isn’t invincible, and, since 2014, has lost as many state elections as it has won. What, then, makes it unbeatable at the national level?
3. Does the 2023 Karnataka verdict mean anything for the 2024 national elections? Or does it not? Read Prashant Jha's analysis.
4. What did the BJP get wrong in Karnataka? Several things, and perhaps most importantly, that Karnataka isn’t like any other state where it competes.
5. The JD(S) has always touted its ability as a kingmaker, but it looks like Karnataka’s politics is becoming bipolar.
6. The Congress won 77 assembly constituencies that it did not win in 2018 (and retained 59 that it did), registering gains across regions.
7. The headline data may show that the BJP’s vote share between 2018 and 2023 remained largely constant – but it turns out that it lost an average of 5.1 percentage points in the seats it won in the 2018 elections, and gained only in places where it anyway doesn’t have too much of a presence, according to Neelanjan Sircar.
8. What does this result mean for Narendra Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge, BS Yediyurappa, Siddaramiah, and HD Deve Gowda?
9. How the Congress won, and how the BJP lost.
10. Three data points sum up these election results — the return of AHINDA (Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits), the limits of Hindutva, and economic distress. A snapshot.