This article assesses the outcome of state assembly elections in Karnataka held in 2013. Extensively using the Lokniti- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi Pre-Poll Survey data, the article concludes that the verdict was more an unequivocal indictment of the state government rather than a pro-Congress vote. A Congress victory in the state was essentially the channelizing of an anti-incumbency vote. The article also makes out the case that the vote for a party is often a function of the voter’s perception of the organizational strength of the party. Mapping electoral developments in the state, the article concludes that a phase of authentic multi-party competition is clearly ushered in by the 2013 electoral verdict.
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