Bengaluru: Counting for all the five by-polls in the state began at 8 AM today, November 6. On November 3, by-polls were held in the Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency, Ballari Lok Sabha constituency, Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, Jamakhandi Assembly constituency and Ramanagara Assembly constituency.
Initial trends suggested that except for the Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress-JD(S) alliance is leading in all other constituencies. Political pandits remain divided in their opinion about the impact of the by-poll results on the upcoming Parliamentary polls. While some say that this reads the pulse of the voters, many differ, saying that thew by-polls cannot be a precursor to the general elections of 2019.
Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency
Fight for fame:
Shivamogga, a strong BJP fort, witnessed sons of three former CMs, fighting to win over the constituency, thus making the elections here into a major prestige issue.
B Y Raghavendra, son of former CM B S Yeddyurappa, will be contesting as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Madhu Bangarappa, son for former CM late S Bangarappa, as a member of the JD(S)-Congress alliance, and Mahima Patel, son of former CM late J H Patel, will be contesting as a member of the JDU.
Raghavendra has taken a huge lead over his close contender Madhu Bangarappa.
It looks like Shivamogga will continue to be the BJP’s bastion, Bellari is slipping out of their hands.
Ramanagara Assembly constituency
Meanwhile, in Ramanagara, CM Kumaraswamy’s wife, Anitha Kumaraswamy won the elections swiftly, making her the constituency’s first woman MLA.
It may be recalled that, only a few days before the by-polls, the BJP’s candidate for the Ramanagara constituency, L Chandrashekar retired from the polls and then re-joined the Congress party, a move many have claimed was the masterstroke of Congress leader and state minister D K Shivakumar.
All five rounds of counting in the Ramanagara by-polls have been swept by the JD(S).
Mandya Lok Sabha constituency
In Mandya, JD(S) candidate and two-time Congress MLA, Shivarame Gowda wins with a huge margin of almost 3 lakh votes (Election Commission yet to announce results) over BJP’s Dr Siddaramaiah. The previous record was held by actor-turned-politician Ambareesh.
Previously, Shivarame Gowda had joined the BJP to contest in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, but he was defeated by former minister Cheluvarayaswmy, the then JD(S) candidate.
He was nominated at a time when there were speculations that the JD(S) would be fielding someone from the party president, HD Devegowda’s family.
According to reports, former bureaucrat Lakshmi Ashwin Gowda was also under consideration for the candidature. She is said to have rushed to HDD’s residence, after hearing of Shivarame Gowda’s candidature, where she had to be consoled. When asked about the decision, she had said that she could not comprehend this decision and needed some time to come to terms with it.
Ballari Lok Sabha constituency
Congress candidate V S Ugrappa has registered a landslide victory, dashing all hopes of Sreeramulu’s sister and BJP candidate, Shanta.
Jamakhandi Assembly constituency
Congress’ Anand Nyamegouda, son of Siddu Nyamegouda, is in the lead over BJP’s Srikanth Kulkarni.
