After the ruling BJP secured 12 of 15 seats as of 2 pm, CM Yediyurappa assured winning candidates who were disqualified Cabinet berths. Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar were among the many who hailed the efforts of Yediyurappa and Nalin Kumar Kateel in Karnataka bypolls.
Bengaluru: The saffron party in Karnataka is headed towards a sweep in the bypolls by winning more than the required number of seats to retain its power in the state. BJP is staring at a victory in 12 out of the 15 seats, which is a big boost to chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s four-month-old government. The BJP came to power after defectors from Congress and JD(S) coalition tendered their resignations leading to the toppling of the government.
BJP needed six seats to stay afloat in Karnataka. The Congress won two seats while an independent won one. The JD(S) suffered the biggest shock with zero wins.
SL No | Constituency | Winner | Opponent |
1 | Athani | Mahesh Kumatahalli (BJP) | Balachandra Mangasuli (Cong) |
2 | Kagwad | Shrimanthgouda Patil (BJP) | Raju Kage (Congress) |
3 | Gokak | Ramesh Jarkiholi (BJP) | Lakhan Jarkiholi (Cong) |
4 | Yellapura | Shivaram Hebbar (BJP) | Bhima Naik (Cong) |
5 | Hirekerur | BC Patil (BJP) | BH Bannikod (Cong) |
6 | Ranibennur | Arun Kumar Poojar (BJP) | KB Koliwad (Cong) |
7 | Vijaynagara | Anand Singh (BJP) | Venkatrao Ghorpade (Cong) |
8 | Chikkballapura | K Sudhakar (BJP) | M Anjanappa (Cong) |
9 | KR Pura | Byrathi Basavaraj (BJP) | M Narayanaswamy (Cong) |
10 | Yeshwanthpura | ST Somashekhar (BJP) | TN Javarayi Gowda (JDS) |
11 | Mahalakshmi Layout | K Gopalaiah (BJP) | M Shivaraj (Cong) |
12 | Shivajinagara | Rizwan Arshad (Cong) | M Saravana (BJP) |
13 | Hosakote | Sharath Bachegowda (Ind) | MTB Nagaraj (BJP) |
14 | KR Pete | KC Narayana Gowda (BJP) | KB Chandrashekhar (Cong) |
15 | Hunsur | HP Manjunath (Cong) | AH Vishwanath (BJP)s |
The Karnataka bypolls were held to fill the vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs from both Congress and JD(S) whose revolt led to the collapse of HD Kumaraswamy government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power.
The elections took place in Yellapur, Ranebennur, Vijayanagar, Yeshwanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout, Chikkaballapura, KR Puram, Shivajinagar, KR Pet, Hunsur, Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Hirekerur and Hoskote. 12 of these 15 seats were held by the Congress and 3 by JD(S).
While Congress accepted defeat and said people accepted defectors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people have punished the Congress.
Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar too reacted on Karnataka bypoll results and wrote a tweet saying the results were a tight slap to dubious opportunistic politics of Congress and JD(S) leaders.
Rajeev tweeted, “Tdy voters of #Karnataka hv given a tight slap to dubious opprtunistic politics of @siddaramaiah @hd_kumaraswamy n their lackey “speaker” #RameshKumar. Congrats to all winning MLAs n to team @BJP4Karnataka undr leadrship of @BSYBJP n @AmitShah 💐💐 #CongMukhtKarnataka”
He also heaped praises on BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel for his efforts to make sure BJP wins both by-elections as well as BBMP elections.
“These byelection results are also a big win under new n hardworking President of @BJP4Karnataka @nalinkateel - under whom we hv won both the BBMP elections n these 15 by-elections. Congratulations Nalinji 💐🙏🏻 “ MP Rajeev tweeted.
