New Delhi, May 22 (Abhinav Gupta / Pratyush Ranjan PTI Fact Check): A Facebook user claimed that in the recently concluded Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP lost as many as 58 seats by a margin of 2000 votes and 41 seats by a margin of 1000 votes. The user further claimed that while the BJP’s vote share remained unchanged from the 2018 Assembly polls, the 5 per cent drop in the vote share of JD(S) led to the Congress’ victory in the elections. 

In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the winning candidates’ margin was less than 2000 votes in only 12 constituencies of Karnataka. Among these 12 seats, the difference in the winning margins was less than 1000 seats on eight seats. However, the claims that the BJP vote share remained unchanged from 2018 and that the vote share of the JD(S) dropped by 5 per cent were almost correct. A misleading claim was shared on social media. 

Karnataka went to polls on May 10, and the counting of votes was taken up on May 13, in which the Congress registered a landslide victory, bagging 135 out of the 224 seats.

Claim

A Facebook user claimed on May 14 that the BJP lost 58 seats by a margin of 2000 votes and 41 seats by a margin of 1000 sets in the recently concluded Karnataka Assembly elections. The user also claimed that while the BJP’s vote share remained unchanged at 36 per cent from the 2018 Assembly polls, the JD(S)’ vote share dropped by 5 per cent, which went in Congress’ favour. 

"Karnataka Results analysis - BJP lost 58 seats by a margin of 2000 votes. BJP lost 41 seats by a margin of 1000 votes.. 2018 BJP Vote Share 36% 2023 BJP vote share 36%, No change. 2018 JDS Vote Share 18% 2023 JDS vote share 13%. 5% lost. So 5% JDS vote share transfer to congress,” read the post. 

Here is the link and archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same: