Karnataka bypoll results: Congress wins all 3 seats, BJP-JDS face huge setback

The Congress party in Karnataka proved its mettle in the state once again by winning three assembly seats – Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon – during the by-election results on Saturday. This came as a huge setback to the BJP-JDS alliance, the Opposition in Karnataka. Two former chief ministers’ sons, Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bharat Bommai, faced defeats in Channapatna and Shiggaon. The leaders vacated the three seats to contest the Lok Sabha elections in May this year.
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The Vokkaliga heartland, Channapatna in Old Mysuru region, was a hot seat in this by-election as a fierce fight was expected between the Congress party and the JDS. After facing setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party wants to regain its popularity in this area, and even JDS took it as a prestige to win from Channapatna, which was vacated by Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy.
However, Congress party’s CP Yogeshwara, who joined the grand-old party before the election, clinched a victory against the Gowda scion, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, with over 25,000 votes. This is Nikhil’s third defeat in the electoral ground, and his hopes to make a debut in the assembly went in vain. He lost a Lok Sabha byelection and an assembly election in the past. This is not just a setback to BJP-JDS but also to the political career of actor-turned-politician who is the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Devegowda.
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Former Karnataka CM and senior BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai’s son Bharat Bommai entered into electoral politics in this by-election. Bommai, the popular Lingayat leader in the BJP, vacated the Shiggaon assembly seat, and the BJP gave a ticket to his son Bharat Bommai. The Congress party fielded Yasir Ahmed Khan against Jr. Bommai, and Khan won with more than 13,000 votes. Losing a crucial seat in Kittur Karnataka region is an alarming situation for the BJP in Karnataka.
Senior Congress leader E Tukaram’s wife, E Annapoorna, won in Sandur with over 9,000 votes against BJP’s Bangaru Hanumantappa, a Kannada actor. Hanumantappa, a close aide to mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, had to face defeat even after some of the party’s bigwigs campaigned for him in Sandur.
The Congress party attributed the clean sweep to its guarantee schemes in the state and development programmes. Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar said that the party will remain in power until 2033 in Karnataka and slammed BJP for making false allegations against its leaders.