Editorial :Karnataka Assembly elections: Third-place winner?

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Karnataka Assembly elections: Third-place winner?

A three-way contest without  a dominant(प्रमुख/प्रभावशाली) campaign(अभियान/मुहिम) issue in a politically fragmented(खंडित ) State was always going to be too close to call. As the last vote is counted in Karnataka, all the three major parties, the Bharatiya Janata

Party, the Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular), believe they have a right to stake claim to form the government. The Congress clearly lost the election, but the BJP could not win it. The JD(S) retained(बरकरार रखा) its core support base, and finished a respectable third. In such a situation, the contest continues beyond the announcement(घोषणा) of the results. Quickly realising it had lost the mandate(शासनादेश/आदेश), the Congress wasted no time in reaching out to the JD(S) with a promise to back its leader H.D. Kumaraswamy for the chief ministership. In contrast, the BJP was slowed down by its own ambition(महत्वाकांक्षा/अभिलाषा). As the early trends showed it ahead in a majority of the seats, the BJP made no overtures(पहल) to the JD(S), and sat quietly in the hope of finishing with an absolute majority. What the BJP did to the Congress in Manipur, Goa, and Meghalaya, the Congress is attempting(प्रयास करने से) to do to the BJP in Karnataka: steal the election from right under its nose. For the JD(S), the Congress offer is too good to be turned down. With a battle-bruised(युद्ध-संकट ) Congress ready to go to any extent(सीमा) to keep the BJP out of power, the JD(S) did not even have to bargain(भाव करना/ सौदा) hard to stake claim for the chief ministership. The BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, B.S. Yeddyurappa, might complain that the Congress is subverting (पलट देना)the people’s mandate, but the fact is that no party has a mandate in a hung Assembly.

Actually, the Congress polled the single largest percentage of the votes (38), ahead of the BJP (36.2), improving(सुधारना/उन्नति करना) on its 2013 share of 36.59%. But the BJP had a better vote-share to seats conversion, sweeping coastal Karnataka and Bombay-Karnataka, and finishing behind the JD(S) and the Congress in many constituencies(निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों) in southern Karnataka. The three-way contest helped the BJP make the most of its Lingayat vote-base, as the controversy(वादविवाद) over the status of a religion for the Lingayat sect did not loosen the party’s hold in northern and central Karnataka. With the JD(S) emerging(उभरना/निकलना )as a contender(प्रतियोगी) in the Assembly election, both the national parties slipped in terms of vote-share from what they polled in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Only convention( सम्मेलन/परंपरा) and common sense dictate the actions of the Governor in a situation where no one party has a majority. Ordinarily, who gets the first shot at forming the government should not matter if neither group engages in engineering defections(दलबदल/पराजय): the issue is best settled on the floor of the House in a confidence vote. But that is a big ‘if’. Karnataka can do without the spectacle(तमाशा/चमत्कार) of horse-trading, and much will depend on how Governor Vajubhai Vala handles the situation.

 Important Vocabulary

 1.Dominant(प्रमुख/प्रभावशाली)

Synonyms: assertive, commanding, effective, leading, main
Antonyms: auxiliary, extra, impotent, incapable, ineffective

2.Retained(बरकरार रखा)
Synonyms: maintained, received, saved, confined, contained
Antonyms: extroverted, lost, outgoing, disengaged, let go

3.Attempting(प्रयास करने से)
Synonyms: pursue, seek, solicit, tackle, undertake
Antonyms: forget, neglect, be idle, be lazy

4.Bargain(भाव करना/ सौदा)
Synonyms: arrangement, contract, deal, negotiation, pact
Antonyms: disagreement, misunderstanding, break, rip-off

5.Subverting (पलट देना)
Synonyms: dowager queen, merry widow, war widow

6.Defections(दलबदल/पराजय):
Synonyms: desertion, divorce, failure, rejection, revolt
Antonyms: enough, faithfulness, harmony, loyalty, plenty

7.Spectacle(तमाशा/चमत्कार)
Synonyms: comedy, demonstration, display, drama, event
Antonyms: hiding, expectation, normality, ordinariness