A massive setback for BJP as JD(S)-Congress wrests Bellary with a resounding margin. Of the three Lok Sabha seats that went to the by-polls, BJP had held Shivamogga and Ballari and JD(S) Mandya.
In total, BJP has lost 2 out of 3 Lok Sabha bypolls and both the assembly bypolls in Karnataka.
Ramanagara assembly seat was held by the JD(S) and Jamkhandi by the Congress.
Once Sonia Gandhi’s constituency in 1999 , Bellary fell out of Congress radar for the 14 years and three consecutive LS bjp emerged victorious because of the prominence of Reddy Brothers. But with JD(S) for company, Congress has again roared back to prominence in its old stronghold.
Congress’ V S Ugrappa has won in Bellary defeating Shantha of BJP by 2.6 lakh votes.Shantha is the sister of B Sriramulu, who gave up the seat after being elected to the state assembly in the polls in May this year.
In the Ramanagara assembly seat, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy won by 109137 votes in a virtual walk-over after BJP party candidate Chandrashekhar went back to Congress.
In the Jamkhandi assembly segment in north Karnataka, Congress candidate Anand Nyamgouda defeated BJP’s Srikant Kulkarni by a margin of 39,480 votes, the seat fell vacant after Anand’d father father and sitting MLA Siddu Nyamagoudas death in a road accident.
JD(S) candidate L Shivarame Gowda prevailed against the BJP’s new face Dr Siddaramaiah in Mandya by 324943 votes.
The big takeaway from Karnataka bypolls is that JD(S)-Congress alliance is working well on ground despite initial resentment among the workers post their tir-up. The alliance has ensured that BJP has lost its bastion of Bellary to Congress, which has won a prestige battle from there.
The only consolation for BJP is in Shimoga where state party chief B S Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra defeated former chief minister S Bangarappa’s son Madhu Bangarappa of JD(S) by 52 thousand votes.
Earlier after votes polled Yeddyurappa told reporters after offering prayers with his son at Hucharaya Swamy Temple in Shimoga, “101% my son (BS Raghavendra) is going to win Shimoga seat. We are also going to win Bellary and Jamkhandi. We will get absolute majority in all the constituencies,”
However the margin of votes defeat made BJP leaders upset with the results and party cadres discussion openly now stating ” if the trend continues in 2019 election it will be disaster for the ruling party under Modi and Amit shah leadership
