1999 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election

1999 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election

← 1994 2004 →
All 224 Legislative Assembly seats 113 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader S.M. Krishna B.S. Yeddyurappa J.H.Patel Party INC BJP JD(U) Alliance NDA NDA Leader since 1996 Leader's seat Maddur (won) Shikaripura (lost) Channagiri (Lost) Last election 34 40 New Seats won 132 44 18 Seat change 98 4 18 Percentage 40.84% 20.69% 13.53 Swing 13.89% 3.70% 13.53%   Fourth party   Leader Siddaramaiah Party JD(S) Leader since 1999 Leader's seat Chamundeshwari (lost) Last election Party did not exist Seats won 10 Seat change 10 Percentage 10.42% Swing 10.42%
Chief minister before election J. H. Patel JD(U) Elected Chief minister S. M. Krishna INC

The 1999 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election took place in October 1999 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 Indian National Congress secured a huge majority winning 132 seats.^[1] The National Democratic Alliance composed of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) faction was a distant second winning only 63 seats. The Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) faction of former prime minister Deve Gowda also bit dust winning only 10 seats. The election was held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. The Janata Dal (JD) government collapsed in mid-1999 owing to a split in the party. The Chief minister J. H. Patel, party president C. Byre Gowda and many other prominent leaders were part of the Janata Dal (United) faction, and along with Ramakrishna Hegde, allied with the BJP,^[2] whereas Deve Gowda and his associates including the deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah joined the JD(S) faction. Owing to the anti-incumbency against both the factions of the JD, Congress won handsomely. S. M. Krishna of the Congress was sworn in as Chief Minister on 11 October 1999.^[3]