The 2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election took place on 20 April and 26 April 2004 in 224 constituencies in Karnataka, India. The elections were conducted to elect the government in the state of Karnataka for the next five years. The votes were counted on 13 May 2004. None of the parties were able to win a majority, and the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party, with 79 seats. Subsequently, the Indian National Congress with 65 members and Janata Dal (Secular) with 58 members formed a coalition to run the government with Dharam Singh as the chief minister. This was the first ever coalition government in the state.
Background in 1999 election, Indian National Congress secured a majority by winning 132 seats out of 224 seats in the assembly, after which S. M. Krishna became the chief minister of Karnataka, and Bharatiya Janata Party becoming the opposition party for the second time, securing 44 seats. Tthe two factions of the Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) led by outgoing Chief Minister J. H. Patel, and Janata Dal (Secular) led by former Prime Minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda, secured 18 and 10 seats respectively.
Schedule The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 29 February 2004.
Poll event Phase 1 2 Date of announcement 29 February 2004 Notification date 24 March 2004 31 March 2004 Last date for filing nomination 31 March 2004 7 April 2004 Scrutiny of nomination 2 April 2004 8 April 2004 Last date for withdrawal of nomination 5 April 2004 10 April 2004 Date of poll 20 April 2004 26 April 2004 Date of counting of votes13 May 2004 No. of constituencies 120 104
Parties and alliances
PartyFlagSymbolLeaderContesting seatsBharatiya Janata Party B. S. Yediyurappa198Janata Dal (United)26
PartyFlagSymbolLeaderContesting seatsIndian National CongressS. M. Krishna224
PartyFlagSymbolLeaderContesting seatsJanata Dal (Secular)H. D. Deve Gowda220
Results
Party-wise PartiesPopular voteSeatsVotes%+ppContestedWon+/- Bharatiya Janata Party71,18,65828.337.64 198 7935 Indian National Congress88,61,95935.275.57 224 6567 Janata Dal (Secular)52,20,12120.7710.35 220 5848 Janata Dal (United)5,17,9042.0611.47 26 513Independent17,24,4806.865.14405136 Others17,02,4686.714.1964243 Total 2,51,29,066 100.00 1715 224±0Valid votes2,51,29,06699.93Invalid votes16,5240.07Votes cast / turnout2,51,45,59065.17Abstentions 1,34,41,16434.83Registered voters 3,85,86,754 Results by district +DistrictSeatsBJP+INCJD(S)INDBidar62121Gulbarga133352Raichur61230Koppal52210Ballari83131Davanagere73310Chitradurga61512Tumakuru133191Kolar122622Bengaluru Urban1661000Bengaluru Rural90540Mandya91260Chamarajanagar50122Mysuru112180Kodagu32100Hassan81160Dakshina Kannada97200Udupi64110Chikkamagaluru63120Shivamogga86101Uttara Kannada64200Dharwad74210Haveri64012Gadag52300Belagavi189513Bagalkot76010Bijapur83311Total22484655817
Successful candidates