The tenure of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly ended on 24 May 2023.^[8] The previous assembly elections were held in May 2018. The Indian National Congress won the election in a landslide by getting 135 seats, making it their biggest win by seats and vote share in Karnataka since the 1989 elections.^[3][4][5]

In July 2019, the coalition government collapsed due to resignations by several members of Congress and JD(S) in the assembly.^[9] Subsequently, Bharatiya Janata Party formed the state government, with B. S. Yediyurappa becoming Chief Minister.^[10]

On 26 July 2021, Yediyurappa resigned from Chief Minister's post^[11] and Basavaraj Bommai was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on 28 July 2021.^[12]

On 19 February 2023, BJP leader H.D. Thammaiah joined Congress along with his supporters.^[13] On 9 March 2023, BJP MLC Puttanna joined the Congress.^[14] Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar quit BJP on 16 April 2023^[15][16] and joined Congress the next day.^[17] Other leaders that left BJP before the polls include Laxman Savadi, M P Kumaraswamy and R. Shankar.^[18][19]

The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 29 March 2023.^[20][21] The Election Commission declared that the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct "came into force with immediate effect" with the announcement of schedule.^[22]

The total electorate in the state were 52,173,579 of which there were 26,200,000 men, 25,900,000 women and 4,699 transgender voters. 16,976 centenarians, 12.15 lakh voters over the age of 80 and 917,000 first-time voters were also included in the total. Moreover, 555,000 voters were disabled.^[23][24]

The Election Commission announced 58,282 polling stations for the election, out of which 24,063 were in urban areas and 34,219 in rural areas. The commission announced that to ensure enhanced voter participation, 1,320 polling stations were to be managed by women, 224 each by youth and disabled personnel.^[25] 130,000 vials of indelible ink were supplied by Mysore Paints and Varnish for the polls.^[26]

JD(S) released the first list of 93 candidates on 19 December 2022 and^[40] the second list of 49 candidates on 14 April 2023.^[41][42] Another list of 6 candidates on 15 April.^[43] and candidate for Chamaraja was announced on 16 April.^[44] A list of 59 candidates was released on 19 April.^[45] On the same day, another list was released wherein candidates from 12 constituencies were replaced^[46] and support was given to other parties in 7 other constituencies.^[45] Final list of 13 candidates was released on 20 April.^[47]

Congress released the first list of 124 candidates on 25 March 2023,^[48] the second list of 41 candidates on 6 April, leaving one seat for Sarvodaya Karnataka Party,^[49][50] the third list of 43 candidates on 15 April,^[51] the fourth list of 7 candidates on 18 April,^[52] the fifth list of 4 candidates (including replacement for Shiggaon constituency) on 19 April^[53][54] and the sixth and final list of 5 candidates on 20 April.^[55]

BJP released the first list of 189 candidates on 11 April 2023,^[56] the second list of 23 candidates on 12 April,^[57] the third list of 10 candidates on 17 April^[58] the fourth and final list of 2 candidates on 19 April.^[59]

Tensions concerning the Belagavi border dispute intensified in early December 2022 as a delegation of Maharashtra politicians proposed to travel to Belagavi district to demand the merger of some villages in Karnataka with Maharashtra, with politicians from Maharashtra making provocative statements.^[72][73][74] The border row escalated into violence after vehicles from both states were attacked and damaged in Belgavi and Pune in mid-December.^[75]

The issue has resurfaced ahead of assembly elections.^[76] Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah has demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for failing in his duties to protect the state.^[77]

In July 2021, D. Kempanna, president of the Karnataka State Contractors' Association wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging large-scale corruption in the award and implementation of civil contracts in Karnataka. In the letter, he alleged that contractors were being forced to pay a 40% commission to officials at the BJP government, cutting across departments, for projects.^[78] Congress started a campaign PayCM to widely publicize these allegations.^[79]

Contractor Santhosh Patil (aged 40) who accused then-state cabinet minister K. S. Eshwarappa of harassing him for commissions committed suicide at Shambhavi Hotel in Udupi on 12 April 2022. He alleged that the BJP leader had been harassing him for commissions to clear the bills for contracts he had implemented for the government over a year ago.^[80] Eshwarappa had to resign as cabinet minister following the incident,^[81] and has retired from electoral politics.^[82]

Later in November 2024, the Karnataka Lokayukta cleared the BJP Karnataka unit of the 40% commission allegations, BJP leaders labelled Congress's allegations as false and claimed that they were a part of their election toolkit strategy. The state unit also said that the contractor who levied the allegations had not worked with the government for the past six years.^[83]

In August 2022, two associations representing 13,000 schools in Karnataka wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government of corruption. "Unscientific, irrational, discriminatory and noncompliance norms are applied to only unaided private schools and huge corruption is in place," the letter read. The school associations urged PM Modi to look into the allegations and launch an inquiry into the affairs of the Karnataka education ministry.^[84]

In order to "expose" the ruling BJP in Karnataka, the opposition Congress party has determined to make the Bitcoin scam an election issue in the 2023 elections.^[85][86]

When the merchandise was exported via Goa, depriving Karnataka of its tax revenue, the state exchequer lost roughly Rs 60 crore while the excise scam cost about Rs 200 crore, according to Priyank Kharge.^[87]

Congress party also released a 'corruption rate card' in English and Kannada languages, alleging the ruling BJP of looting ₹1,50,000 crore during last four years.^[88][89] The Election Commission issued a notice to Congress over these ads asked to provide evidence to support the claims.^[90]

According to political analysts Phani Rajanna and Sandeep Shastri, with Karnataka polls nearing, the BJP is raking up more and more communal issues to divide people and polarise the votes. This has been shown by communal tensions started by right-wing Hindutva groups on use of hijab in government schools, sale of halal meat, broadcasting of azan on loudspeakers, a boycott of Muslim-run shops & Muslim employees similar to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses, moral policing specifically targeting Muslims and violence against Christians, which have been linked to the Bommai government.^[91] Bommai was widely perceived to be weak within the Karnataka BJP,^[92] due to which hardliners like Tejasvi Surya & B. L. Santhosh took over the reins of party administration.

The BJP has focused its campaign around these communal issues,^[93] drawing stark criticism from the opposition Congress, which accused it of neglecting governance issues.^[94]

Caste politics have once again risen to the forefront following the just completed elections in five states. The tone for the assembly elections the next year is being set by the regrouping of various caste lobbies in their fight for reservation.^[95][96][97] The Karnataka government has courted controversy with its orders to take away 4% OBC quota from low-caste Muslims and redistributing them to Lingayats and Vokkaligas. In addition the government has expressed support for internal reservation for Scheduled Castes into SC right, SC left and SC 'touchable' and SC other. Communities such as the Banjara have protested this move as depriving them of a share.^[98]

While various caste groups are working to make the controversial farm rules that the government passed two years ago the main topic for the forthcoming assembly elections, farmer organisations are getting ready to resurrect the issue.^{[99][100][101]}

In Karnataka, a war brewing between two major milk cooperatives in the country has spilled over into a political slugfest ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. The Amul vs Nandini row has created a stir in the state, with opposition mainly Congress leaders and pro-Kannada groups attacking the government for allowing Amul to sell fresh milk and curd in Bengaluru. The critics believe that entry of Amul in the fresh milk market could spell trouble for Karnataka's local brand, Nandini.^{[102][103][104]}

On 3 January 2023, BJP Karnataka state president Nalin Kumar Kateel in a party meet at Mangalore said that people should prioritise the issue of "Love jihad" over "road, gutter, drain and other small issues".^{[105][106][107]} His comments were criticised by Congress leaders and several state BJP leaders also expressed unhappiness over the remarks.^{[108][109][110]}

On 26 April 2023, BJP top leader Amit Shah said, "If the Congress comes to power, dynastic politics will be at an all-time high and Karnataka will be afflicted with riots".^[111] In response, Indian National Congress filed a police complaint against Amit Shah for provocative statements and promoting enmity.^[112][113]

On 9 May 2023, the Supreme Court termed Amit Shah's public speeches on scrapping of the 4 per cent quota for Muslims during the campaign in Karnataka when the matter was pending in the court, as "inappropriate" and alleged that the speeches amounted to "contempt of court proceedings".^[114][115]

The Indian National Congress made allegations that Chilume Trust, an NGO in Bengaluru, had amassed voter personal data, including caste, age, gender, work and education information, Aadhaar cards, phone numbers and more.^[116][117] The Congress alleged that BJP assigned party workers through the NGO to collect such information, and names of legitimate voters of the opposition party were deleted and that names of 'fake voters' were added to ensure more votes for the BJP.^[118][119] The Congress also demanded resignation of Chief Minister over the matter.^[120]

In December 2022, the NGO was blacklisted by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Bengaluru's civic body, and a police complaint was filed against them for breach of trust.^[121][122] Subsequently, a probe was launched against the activities of the trust.^[123][124]

In April 2023, another company was found to be selling voter data of at least 6.5 lakh voters through an online portal. The Election Commission of India is investigating whether the data has been used for calling the voters and bribing them. An FIR has been lodged by Bengaluru Police against the online portal following a complaint made by an independent candidate who was approached by the seller.^{[125][126][127][128]}

BJP MLA C. N. Ashwath Narayan sent voters messages containing information (their names, voter ID card number, relatives' names and the booth address) from their voter ID cards on WhatsApp. This led to outrage among the voters questioning the legality of the practice and violation of their privacy.^[129][130]

During an election campaign in Kalaburagi, Congress president and Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka Mallikarjun Kharge made a remark against PM Narendra Modi, calling him a 'poisonous snake'.^[131][132] Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai criticized the Congress leader and said that the comment will instead benefit BJP.^[133][134] BJP called it Congress's 'hate politics' and also demanded FIR against Congress leader.^{[135][136][137]}

The Indian National Congress released its state manifesto, saying that it will put a ban on the right-wing Hindu nationalist militant organisation Bajrang Dal for spreading hatred and communalism if elected to power. In response, Bajrang Dal and BJP workers protested by chanting Hanuman Chalisa and burning Congress flags, and the Vishva Hindu Parishad issued a defamation notice to the Congress president Kharge.^{[138][139][140][141]}

Congress has claimed that BJP has been planning to assassinate Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. Congress released an alleged audio clip on 6 May 2023 in which Manikanta Rathod, BJP candidate from Chittapur, could be heard abusing Kharge and talking about eliminating him and his family.^{[142][143][144]}

The Election Commission ignored the complaints by the Congress party on various statements by BJP leaders which lead to allegations of the EC being biased and favouring the BJP.

The Election commission asked Congress to provide evidence behind their newspaper advertisements claiming specific allegations of corruption by the BJP's Karnataka government and also issued a notice for Sonia Gandhi's alleged mention of the word "sovereignty" in a public speech. However no action was taken by the Election Commission on complaints raised by Congress against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly invoking Hindu gods in his rallies and alleging Congress of a terror conspiracy.^{[89][145][146][147]}

Referring to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's speech, Prime Minister Modi had alleged Congress of "openly advocating" Karnataka's secession from the Indian Union, called for an FIR against her and sought derecognition of the Congress party by the Election Commission. However, Sonia did not use the word "sovereignty" or its Hindi translation "samprabhuta" in her speech, but the word was instead mentioned in a tweet by the Congress.^[148]

In response, the Congress submitted a breach of privilege notice in Lok Sabha against PM Modi for the alleged "misrepresentation" of Sonia's speech.^[149]

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and former chief minister B. S. Yediyurappa started the "Jana Sankalpa Yatra" for the Bharatiya Janata Party on 11 October 2022, coinciding with the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress's Rahul Gandhi in the state. The yatra would cover 52 assembly constituencies.^[150]

BJP's campaign was centred around the prime minister Narendra Modi, who addressed 19 public rallies and 6 roadshows in the state,^[151] the schemes of the Central government and how the government in the state would make collaboration easy with the center. BJP did not announce a Chief Minister candidate and did not project a local leader as a face of the campaign.^[152] The party banked on Hindutva to divide voters along the communal lines before the polls when it was in the power in the state. It campaigned on issues like banning hijab in government schools, scrapping of 4% reservation quota for low-caste Muslims, twisting historical facts around Tipu Sultan, ban on cattle slaughter etc. In most of the election campaigning, the party put Hindutva to the back possibly due to their realization that the religious polarisation was not working.^{[153][154][155]}

In the last days of campaigning period, Prime Minister Modi conducted road rallies, ignoring major issues in the country such as large scale unrest in Manipur, terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and wrestlers' protests against MP of his party.^[156] Modi also referenced the controversial film The Kerala Story as "a new face of terrorism" even after the Kerala High court acknowledged the movie is not based on real events.^[157] His rallies were marked with slogans of 'Jai Bajrang Bali' after Congress pledged to ban organisations that spread hatred and named Bajrang Dal in their manifesto. The campaign attempted to equate Bajrang Dal with Bajrang Bali (Lord Hanuman) while Congress maintained the two are different.^[158] Many commuters found themselves stranded in traffic caused by blocking of roads due to the roadshows.^[159]

BJP announced their manifesto on 1 May 2023.^{[160][161][162]}

The manifesto was divided into six sections- Anna (food security), Abhaya (social welfare), Akshara (education), Aarogya (health), Abhivrudhhi (development) and Aadaaya (income).

Some highlights of BJP manifesto are:

• Implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC)
• Introduction of NRC
• Three free cooking gas cylinders to all BPL families
• Half litre of Nandini milk every day to BPL families
• Forming Atal Aahara Kendras for "affordable, quality and hygienic food"
• Monthly free 5 kg millets and 5 kg wheat

The Indian National Congress campaign was marked by allegations of corruption by the BJP government in the state, putting the BJP on the defensive. The five guarantees and the groundwork ensured outreach of the party among the voters, finding resonance especially among women who outnumber male voters in about 50% of the seats. The party deployed local-level leaders Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, Parameshwar, MB Patil, UT Khader, KJ George and the AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge. Congress also took risk by mentioning ban of Bajrang Dal in its manifesto hoping to consolidate minority votes which could potentially go to JDS, a move which gave BJP some fuel in last few days of campaigning.^[152]

The Indian National Congress kickstarted its campaign with the entry of the Bharat Jodo Yatra^[163] in Karnataka on 30 September 2022. The yatra had huge crowds throughout the state,^[164][165] galvanising the party cadre and increasing morale of party workers, according to political experts.^[166] Police started cracking down on Congress's PayCM campaign against the alleged corruption in the Bommai ministry upon the entry of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.^[167] In the yatra, Rahul Gandhi stressed issues such as the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the state BJP government^[168] and the importance of regional languages, especially Kannada.^[169]

In September 2022, the Congress set up QR codes of "PayCM" in many parts of Bengaluru. These posters had Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai's dotted face with the caption "40% Accepted Here...Scan this QR code to make CM PAY for Corruption" as a knockoff of the QR code of Paytm. These posters referred to the allegations that Bommai's BJP government took bribes in awarding public contracts and recruitments.^[170] These QR codes took scanners to a website people could report corruption and make complains at a designated website.^[171]

A 10-point platform for the Coastal region was released by the Congress Party for the Assembly elections. It focuses on generating employment, luring capital, growing tourism, and fostering social peace.^[172]

On 2 May 2023, Congress released its manifesto and named it Sarva Janangada Shanthiya Thota (Peaceful garden of all communities).^{[173][174][175][176]}

Some of the main promises made in the Congress manifesto are:

• Investment of ₹1.5 lakh crore for the completion of pending irrigation projects
• Investment of ₹1.5 lakh crore in agriculture
• ₹50,000 crore investment in village infrastructure
• Providing free bus rides for all women and girls (known as the, "Uchita Prayāna" scheme).
• Providing ₹3000 allowance for every unemployed youth with graduation degree and ₹1500 allowance for diploma holders all over the state (known as, "Yuva nidhi" scheme).
• Reimplementation of the Old Pension Scheme, which it did in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Himachal pradesh.
• Increase of reservation for SC/ST/OBC from 50% to 75%
• Restoration of 4% Muslim quota, over and above their OBC quota which was removed by the BJP
• ₹2,000 a month to the female head of families (known as, "Gruha Lakshmi" scheme^[177]).
• 200 units of electricity free to every household (known as, "Gruha Jyothi" scheme).
• Free 10 kg of rice per person per month to Below Poverty Line families (known as the, "Anna Bhāgya" scheme)
• ₹10,000 crore for minorities welfare and preservation of their places of worship
• ₹1,000 crore for Senior Citizen Welfare Fund
• Fill 250,000 vacant government posts
• New State Education Policy
• Strict action against people/organizations spreading hatred, potentially banning Popular Front of India and Bajrang Dal
• Introduction of new policy to tackle voter data leaks

The Janata Dal (Secular) kickstarted the Pancharatna Yatra in Mulabagilu on 1 November 2022.^[178] A road campaign across the Old Mysore region, it has been witnessing a huge turnout in the southern region of the state.^[179]

Former chief minister H. D. Kumaraswamy led the campaign "Pancharatna Yatra" outlined the party's five guarantees. The party pushed its regional appeal with the slogan "a vote to JD(S) is a vote to Kannadiga". Former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda was also a very powerful factor in catching votes for the JD(S). Compared to big national parties BJP and Congress, JD(S) had limited resources and focused only on 45 seats.^[180]

JD(S) released its manifesto on 27 April 2023.^[181][182]

• ₹ 6,000 allowance for six months to pregnant women
• ₹ 2,000 monthly financial assistance for families of agricultural labourers
• ₹ 2,000 monthly allowance for auto drivers and registered security guards
• High tech hospitals and schools in all 6,006 GPs
• Free bicycle for 6.8 lakh high school students
• Electric moped of 60,000 girl students of first grade colleges
• Leather cluster in Belagavi, silk clusters in Ramanagara and Chikkaballapur
• Ancillary industry unit in each taluk
• Five free LPG cylinders per year
• Provision to increase the incentive for milk producers by ₹2
• Amusement park in association with Disney world in Mysuru
• Loan waiver for women and self help groups
• Restoration of 4% Muslim quota that was scrapped
• Boost to irrigation projects such as Upper Bhadra and Upper Krishna
• Implementation of Medakatu, Mahadayi and Yettinahole projects
• Promise to save the Nandini brand

Exit polls were published on 10 May 2023.