BJP voted out in key Indian state.

NEW DELHI -- India's Congress Party cleanly defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the crucial state of Karnataka on Saturday, subverting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hopes of expanding his muscular Hindu nationalism into the southern provinces.

The BJP had grabbed power in Karnataka in 2019 by inducing defections from the fragile Congress coalition government, and not winning it fairly. The Congress staged an emphatic victory this time, winning 136 seats in the 224 member state assembly, well beyond the halfway mark.

Congress cleanly regains Karnataka

That Mr Modi held several rallies over a number of days, ending the campaign with a desperate religious appeal to Hindu voters magnified the importance of the BJP's defeat. 'The bazaar of hate has shut down. The shops of love are re-opened,' said Rahul Gandhi, whose recent marathon 'March to unite India' spent several days in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

But the Congress's troubles are not entirely over. It has to decide on the chief minister's post between two contending stalwarts with different ideological thrusts. Ex-CM Siddaramaiah belongs to the social justice plank, while D.K. Shivakumar is a wealthy farmer with muscle power. Reports say both could be accommodated as chief ministers, splitting the five-year tenure into equal halves.

The problem of local satraps also dogged the BJP and it had to sideline an...