BENGALURU: The ruling Congress in the state has managed to increase its Lok Sabha tally in the state from just one in 2019 to double digits in 2024. The winners include some fresh faces who are family members of Congress ministers and leaders.
However, the opposition BJP-JD(S) have won more Lok Sabha seats while the BJP’s tally has reduced significantly. However, it has managed to pull off some surprises in some of the seats including Bangalore Rural and Mysuru-Kodagu.
The JD(S), which had won only the Hassan seat in 2019, lost the seat this time with Prajwal Revanna being defeated by Congress candidate Shreyas Patel. The Congress has been able to get back the Hassan seat after a long gap of 25 years.
Former CM and JD(S) candidate H D Kumaraswamy looked set to win the Mandya Lok Sabha seat. He was leading against Congress candidate Star Chandru by a margin of 2,71,344 votes. Party candidate from the Kolar seat, Mallesh Babu, was also set to win by a margin of 71,388 votes against Congress candidate K V Goutham who had polled 6,20,093 votes. Mallesh had polled 6,91,481 votes and an official announcement was awaited.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has won the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 97,324 votes. The incumbent BJP candidate, Pralhad Joshi, was in the electoral fray against the Congress challenger Vinod Asooti. Joshi got 7,16,231 votes.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, has also won the Haveri-Gadag seat, garnering 7,05,538 votes. He won by a margin on 43.513 votes against Congress candidate Anandaswami who polled 6,62, 025 votes. The seat was earlier represented by Shivakumar Udasi of BJP who announced his retirement from active politics just ahead of this year’s Lok Sabha polls.
In Bengaluru Rural, renowned cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath, son-in-law of former PM H D Deve Gowda, trounced D K Suresh of the Congress by a big margin. “I hadn’t expected such a huge win. All this is due to the efforts of party workers and leaders. I dedicate my win to the party workers in the constituency. During the campaign, though people did not reach out to me, they have voted for me secretly. I thank everyone and will work to live up to their trust’.
While BJP’s PC Mohan was headed to win his fourth term from Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, Tejasvi Surya was headed for a massive victory from Bangalore South, ensuring his second term. Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje, who is a fresh face in Bangalore North constituency, was poised for a huge win from Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency.
In Ballari, Congress candidate Tukaram trounced BJP’s B Sriramulu by a marging of 98,000 votes. Sriramulu had won the seat in 2014 by a margin of 85,000 votes, while in 2019, BJP’s Devendrappa had defeated Congress candidate V S Ugrappa by more than 25,000 votes.
Former minister and BJP leader Dr K Sudhakar, who had lost the Assembly election, was set to win the Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 1,63, 460 votes against Congress candidate Raksha Ramaiah who polled 6.59, 159 votes. Dr Sudhakar polled 8,22,619 votes.
Union Minister Bhagawant Khuba, who was hoping for a third term, suffered a shock defeat in Bidar to Congress newbie Sagar Khandre, son of Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre. Khubha lost by a margin of 1.28 lakh votes. He was facing anti-incumbency for not carrying out development work.
The BJP’s Kota Srinivasa Poojary, who replaced Shobha Karandlaje in Udupi-Chikkamagalur, won the seat with a comfortable margion of 2,58,903 votes against Congress’ Jayaprakash Hegde. While Poojary polled 7,31,408 votes, Hegde had polled 4,72, 505 votes.
Congress candidate Sunil Bose, son of minister H C Mahadevappa, tasted his maiden victory in Chamarajanagar, defeating BJP candidate S Balaraj by over 1.19 lakh votes. An official announcement was still awaited.
In 2019, BJP’s V Srinivasa Prasad, who recently announced his retirement from electoral politics, had won against Congress candidate R Dhruvanarayan by a thin margin. Prasad had announced that it was his last election.
From the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat, BJP’s Jagadish Shettar, who had switched to Congress after being denied a ticket for last year’s Assembly polls and later returned, won by a huge margin against Mrunal Hebbalkar, son of minister Laxmi Hebbalkar. Shettar polled 1,13,495 while Mrunal Hebbalkar had polled 67,403 votes. Shettar had faced some opposition as he was considered an ‘outsider’ in Belagavi.
The has retained its bastion of Dakshina Kannada where Capt Brijesh Chowta (retd) won against Congress’ Padmaraj R Poojary by a handsome margin of 1.37 lakh votes. This was Chowta’s maiden electoral battle. Both the BJP and Congress had fielded new faced for this election.
In Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home district, NDA candidate and Mysuru royal family scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar, who made his debut in politics, won against Congress candidate M Lakshmana by a margin of 1.30 lakh votes.
After Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, Yaduveer is the only other person from the royal family to dabble in politics. His win has come as a major embarassment for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Senior BJP leader Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, who replaced Anant Kumar Hegde as the party’s candidate in Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency, against Congress candidate Anjali Nimbalkar, who is the wife of IPS officer Hemanth Nimbalkar. Kageri had maintained a lead right from the start of counting.
In Koppal, Congress candidate Rajashekar Hitnal defeated Dr Basavaraj Kyavater of BJP by 46,357 votes. The seat was represented by BJP’s Karadi Sanganna who defected to the Congress after being denied a ticket this time.
Former IAS officer and Congress candidate G Kumar Naik registered a thumping win over BJP’s Raja Amareshwara Naik in Raichur. In the last election Amareshwara naik had won the seat by over one lakh votes.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani avenged the former’s defeat by winning the Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat by 27,205 votes. He defeated Umesh Jadhav, who had trounced Kharge in the 2019 election.
Veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s daughter-in-law Prabha Mallikarjun has won the Davanagere seat, trouncing Gayathri Siddeshwar of the BJP by 26,094 vites. Gayathri was picked as the BJP candidate in place of the incumbent G M Siddeshwar, who had defeated H Manjappa in 2019 by 1,69,707 votes.
Former minister Govind Karjol, who was fielded by the BJP from Chitradurga, has defeated Congress’ B N Chandrappa by 48,121 votes. Karjol, who has served as minister and was also Deputy CM, had represented Mudhol Assembly constituency.
The BJP’s V Somanna, who had lost the Assembly election last year from from both Chamarajanagar and Varuna seats in Mysuru, has won the Lok Sabha election from Tumakuru. He beat his Congress rival Mudduhanumegowda by a huge margin of 1,75, 594 votes.
In Bagalkot, BJP’s P C Gaddigoudar has won for the fifth time. He was pitted against Samyukta Patil, daughter of Congress minister Shivanand Patil in a seat that is dominated by Lingayat voters. Gaddigoudar won by a huge margin of 68,399 votes.
Incumbent BJP MP Ramesh Jigajinagi won the Vijayapura seat for the fourth consecutive time, defeating Congress’ Raju Alagur by 77,229 votes. Vijayapura is considered a BJP stronghold and Jigajinagi has been winning continuously since 2009. In 2019, he defeated Dr Sunita Chavan of the JD(S) by a huge margin of 2.56,526 votes.
Despite the triangular contest, incumbent MP and son of former CM B S Yediyurappa, B Y Raghavendra, has won from the Shivamogga seat for the fourth time. He defeated his nearest rival, Congress candidate Geetha Shivarajkumar, by 2,43,7145 votes. This is for the second time that Geetha has tasted defeat in Shivamogga.
Former Deputy CM K S Eshwarappa, who was sore after he was denied the Lok Sabha ticket, had contested as an independent, going against the party line. He, however, managed to garner only 30,050 votes despite a loud campaign. Eshwarappa had been asked by the party to step aside in last year’s Assembly elections too.