Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday, May 13 met Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and submitted his resignation from the post of Chief Minister. This comes hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced one of its worst defeats in the Karnataka Assembly elections 2023.

Earlier in the day, Bommai who had taken over the reigns of the Karnataka government after Yediyurappa’s retirement had announced that he would submit his resignation by evening following his party’s dismal performance in the election. He was accompanied by MLAs Byrathi Basavaraj, Suresh Kumar, and MLC N Ravikumar.

"I have decided to resign as the Chief Minister of the state. I will submit my resignation by evening today," Bommai said announcing his resignation earlier today. “We have been unable to reach the mark despite a lot of efforts by everybody. Once all the results come, we'll get an analysis. As a national political party, we will not only analyse and check what the gaps and deficiencies are, but we will improve upon them. We'll organise the party and come back stronger,” he also said.

The Congress swept the Assembly elections securing 135 seats out of the total 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly. The BJP won 65 seats while the JD(S) won 19. Any party needs more than 112 seats to win a simple majority.