2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election

In July 2019, the coalition government collapsed due to resignations by several members of INC and JD(S) in the assembly.[4] Subsequently, Bharatiya Janata Party formed the state government, with B. S. Yediyurappa becoming Chief Minister.[5]

On 26 July 2021, Yediyurappa resigned from Chief Minister's post[6] and Basavaraj Bommai was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on 28 July 2021.[7]

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.[13][14][15] The border row escalated into violence after vehicles from both states were attacked and damaged in Belgaon and Pune in mid-December.[16]

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.[17]

Contractor Santhosh Patil (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.[18] Eshwarappa had to resign as cabinet minister following the incident.[19]

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.[20]

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' Rahul Gandhi in the state. The yatra would cover 52 assembly constituencies.[21]

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”.[22] Several state BJP leaders expressed unhappiness over the remarks and felt that it would not help the party cause.[23]

The Indian National Congress kickstarted its campaign with the entry of the Bharat Jodo Yatra[24] in Karnataka on 30 September 2022. The yatra had huge crowds throughout the state,[25][26] galvanising the party cadre and increasing morale of party workers, according to political experts.[27] Police started cracking down on Congress' PayCM campaign against the alleged corruption in the Bommai ministry upon the entry of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.[28] In the yatra, Rahul Gandhi stressed issues such as the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the state BJP government[29] and the importance of regional languages, especially Kannada.[30]

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.[31] These QR codes took scanners to a website people could report corruption and make complains at a designated website.[32]

The Janata Dal (Secular) kickstarted the Pancharatna Yatra in Mulabagilu on 1 November 2022.[33] A road campaign across the Old Mysore region, it has been witnessing a huge turnout in the southern region of the state.[34]