India's ruling Congress party Wednesday won the assembly elections in the southern state of Karnataka by an overwhelming margin, dethroning the country's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in power in the state for the last five years.

The Congress bagged nearly 120 seats while the ruling BJP lost 70 seats, managing only some 40-odd seats in the 224-member assembly. The BJP's erstwhile alliance partner, the Janata Dal ( Secular), also got close to 40 seats. As there is one nominated representative in the assembly, the polls were actually held for 223 seats in the state.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has hailed the party's victory, saying the result was a rejection of BJP's ideology. "It is a clear result against the ideology of the BJP which has been ruling in the state of Karnataka," Singh told the media in the national capital.

Talking about the general elections, slated for next year, the Prime Minister added: "The people of the country know what is what and they will reject the BJP ideology as the result in Karnataka shows."

Humbly accepting the party's defeat, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: "We have lost badly. There are many reasons for it. We will have to introspect."

More than 70 percent out of 41 million eligible voters had exercised their franchise Sunday and over 2,900 candidates contested the polls in Karnataka, the only southern state ruled by the BJP, which had three Chief Ministers in quick succession in the last two years.

Experts say that the elections results in Karnataka comes as a major blow to the Hindu nationalist party which is pinning its hope to win the general elections in 2012, and a thumbs-up for the Congress entangled in a series of corruption scandals and its inability to check inflation.

"The BJP government has been diminished in the state because of two major reasons. It was mired in graft charges and because of its former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who led the BJP to victory in 2008, quitting the party to form the rival Karnataka Janata Party which managed to cut votes for the BJP to some extent, " said Prof S.K. Gupta, a Delhi-based political analyst.

He added, "The scam-tainted Congress, which is gasping for political breath, gained on BJP's loss. It rode on the anti- incumbency wave in the state. People wanted change and so they routed the BJP, and the Congress capitalized on it. It may not reflect anything on the general elections due next year."