While the saffron party drew a blank in Tamil Nadu, it is interesting to note the strategic alliances formed with the smaller parties which have a strong support base among different caste groups in the state.

The Congress and the BJP are on the knife's edge and victory margins are expected to be razor thin. This round of polling in Karnataka is crucial for both the parties and will determine whether the saffron party reaches the majority mark in the 2024 general elections. 

The project head of the portal suggested that “Lingayat dominance” factor is “a myth” in Karnataka.

There’s a sense among a large section of the young voters that educated people who watch the news understand that the stature of the country is improving internationally and the Army is getting support from Modi, though they are miffed with the BJP for fielding “weak” candidates in Belagavi and Chikkodi constituencies.

The former chief minister said he did not know why the PM had campaigned for JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna. “If they [BJP central leadership] had knowledge of the issue [sexual assault allegations], then they would not have allowed it, I think they had no knowledge about it,” he said.

The Belagavi constituency of Karnataka has a sizeable number of Marathi-speaking voters. Hebbalkar represents the Belagavi Rural seat in the assembly and her son Mrinal is LS poll candidate.

Congress is campaigning on important material factors, close to voter’s lives. BJP’s time-tested formula of hyper-nationalism faces severe competition this time.

Vokkaligas and Lingayats dominate the caste-politics conversation, but the state has a substantial population of Muslims and Scheduled Castes. However, when it comes to ticket distribution the minority community is neglected in the general elections.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi hit back at Modi’s attempts to drag ‘mangalsutras’ into the electoral debate, misquoting Manmohan Singh’s 18-year old speech.

Karnataka's lone Congress MP said that though Karnataka is one of the largest taxpayers in the country, the state is not getting any benefits.

For the BJP or the NDA to surpass its record of the previous election is a tall order as the Congress government in the state continues to ride the popularity wave, especially among rural voters and women. 

Nearly, 82% of the workforce engages in the informal sector, and nearly 90% is informally employed, the report underlined.

In an interview with The Wire, Sripada called out Carnatic musicians for ganging up against vocalist T.M. Krishna after his selection as this year’s Sangita Kalanidhi and pointed out their hypocrisy for not acting proactively when Me Too allegations were levelled against some of the singers of the fraternity.

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar retweeted a post claiming that 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans were raised in the the Karnataka state assembly after re-election of Congress leader Dr Syed Naseer Hussain in the Rajya Sabha polls.

From calling it “retrograde step” to backing the opaque funding instrument, the ECI has come a long way from warning the Modi government that electoral bonds might even "lead to increased use of black money for political funding through shell companies".

In this budget, Siddaramaiah announced a free bus pass scheme for rural journalists to travel within the district limits for their professional work.