The Bharatiya Janata Party won the most seats in Karnataka's assembly election, but the result was a hung house — a result where no single party wins enough seats to govern alone.

It took 104 of the 224 seats on offer.

That left it short of the 113-seat majority mark.

The Indian National Congress, the outgoing government, finished second with 80 seats.

It also outpolled the BJP in vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — 38.1% to 36.2%, even while finishing behind on seats.

Weeks before the poll was called, the Congress state cabinet, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accepted a committee's recommendation to grant Lingayats separate religious-minority status and forwarded it to the central government, reaching into a community that had long anchored the BJP's base in north Karnataka.¹

On 27 March 2018 the Election Commission set a single-phase poll for Karnataka's 224-seat assembly, with voting on 12 May and results due on 15 May.²

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's office confirmed on 21 April that he would contest both Chamundeshwari and Badami; he filed his second nomination, for Badami, on 23 April.³

Congress president Rahul Gandhi released the party's manifesto in Mangaluru on 27 April, promising one crore jobs, free smartphones and laptops for students, 24-hour rural power supply and irrigation spending.⁴

On 8 May, almost 10,000 voter ID cards turned up in a Bengaluru flat linked to Manjula Nanjamari. The BJP and Congress traded blame, and Congress MLA Munirathna and 13 others were booked. The Election Commission postponed polling in Rajarajeshwari Nagar to 28 May, with votes counted on 31 May.⁵

Most of the seats that changed hands moved the same way, from the INC to the BJP.

That movement covered 58 of the 130 seats that changed hands across the state.

BJP itself grew from 40 seats to 104 seats this time.

Turnout, the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot, rose to 74.0% — the highest the state has recorded.

The closest race was at Maski, Karnataka, decided by 213 votes.

Pulakeshinagar, Karnataka recorded the widest margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of the election, at 64.6% of the vote.

Hosakote, Karnataka recorded the highest turnout of the election, 91.7% of registered voters casting a ballot.

Bangalore South, Karnataka was the state's largest constituency by registered voters, with 5,81,422 names on its rolls.

Mulbagal, Karnataka drew the most crowded ballot in the state, 39 candidates in one race.

NOTA — None of the Above, a ballot option letting voters formally reject every candidate on offer — drew 3,26,413 votes statewide, 0.9% of the total.

The BJP had already governed Karnataka once before, forming the party's first-ever state government anywhere in south India after BS Yediyurappa was sworn in as Chief Minister on 30 May 2008.⁶

That earlier government followed the Janata Dal's 1999 split into rival factions, one of which became Janata Dal (Secular).⁷

The coalition Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) formed after the 2018 election lasted fourteen months: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy lost a trust vote and resigned on 23 July 2019, and BS Yediyurappa returned as Chief Minister on 26 July 2019.⁸