The BJP has won 13 of the 19 seats in Coastal Karnataka, a climbdown from its 2018 performance of 16 seats. The Congress has won six seats, an increase from three seats that it won in the last election.
The BJP’s deteriorated performance comes at a time when the party in the last few years went all guns blazing in Coastal Karnataka— it’s traditional stronghold in the state— with polarising issues.
The coastal Karnataka comprises of three districts—Udupi, Uttar Kannada and Dakshin Kannada. It is in Udupi that the Hijab ban first came into place and then subsequently spread across the state. Udupi also saw intense 'counter protests' by saffron shawl wearing men from Hindutva organisations against the Hijabi students. While the BJP’s overall tally in the region went down, the BJP’s Udupi candidate Yashpal Suvarna, who led the politics against the Hijab, has won by 20 per cent margin against the Congress’ Prasadraj Kanchan.