Sweets, Fanfare, Crackers: Big Celebrations As Congress Inches Towards Victory

Jubilant Congress workers across the country started celebrating as the grand old party edged towards victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday. The party workers gathered at Congress headquarters in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Bihar to distribute sweets. They also danced in the streets to the tune of drums and waved flags.

Congress workers in Guwahati burst crackers and distributed sweets in celebration after the latest trends by the Election Commission of India (ECI) showed the party leading in the Karnataka Assembly elections.

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While speaking to ANI, Jakir Hussai Sikdar, working president of Assam Congress, said, "I predicted a month ago that the Congress will win in the Karnataka elections. This is the impact of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi."

"Secondly, the credit goes to our central and local leaders, who campaigned for the party. This is a victory of democracy," he added. Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the party's victory in Karnataka is an outcome of the "collective work" of party leaders and workers and that the party would work towards consensus to choose its chief ministerial candidate.

Talking to reporters as the trends showed an emphatic Congress victory, Kharge said people of all communities voted for the Congress. He said the party will work towards fulfilling its election promises.
Kharge hails from Karnataka and the assembly election was crucial for him. His son Priyank Kharge won from Chittapur.

"I thank the people of Karnataka for giving a huge mandate to Congress. We will respect the mandate and uphold people's belief in us. We will implement all the welfare schemes we have announced in our manifesto. I thank Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and also Sonia Gandhi who campaigned even when she wasn't well," Kharge said. Targeting BJP, he said the people have defeated a party's government "which had indulged in corruption".

"People of all communities voted for us. Now, we have to go miles and fulfill the promises and guarantees we made to the public. This is a result of the collective work of our workers, from booth to state level. They worked under collective leadership," Kharge said.

Asked about the chief ministerial face, Mr. Kharge said that the name will be decided after a meeting of MLAs and central observers. "There is a process for this (choosing CM). We will call a meeting of MLAs. The central observers will also come, after which we will know everybody's opinion and build a consensus," he added.

Congress is heading for a handsome victory in Karnataka and is poised to win 135 seats. BJP is expected to win 65 seats. The counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security across the state. Karnataka went to the polls on May 10 for 224 member assembly and saw a record polling of 72.68 percent. A party needs 113 seats to get a majority.