Bengaluru: Many smaller parties who contested in the crucial BBMP elections ensured that the Congress lost in at least 60 wards, whereas the Congress could have improved its vote share or won at least 20 more seats, a newspaper daily reported about the loss of Congress in the civic polls, the results of which were announced on August 25, 2015.
The JD(S) hit Congress party and deprived them of victory in at least 25 wards, where it fought a hard battle with the Congress candidates.
“Forty-six Muslims from all parties had contested the elections. In more than 25 of these wards, the Janata Dal(Secular) gave us a run for our money, added the report.
“The Hyderabad-based AIMIM could not do much damage, but it definitely succeeded in delivering its intended message that the party cannot be ignored in the long run”.
“AIMIM candidates succeeded in taking away 500 to 1,500 votes wherever they contested. The SDPI, another party that was eyeing the Muslim vote bank, succeeded in winning a seat from the BTM Layout constituency and proving that it was a bigger than other smaller parties. The AIADMK and DMK, who targeted Tamil speaking voters, too ate into Congress votes. The Bahujan Samaj Party too fits into a similar category, as its candidates succeeded in taking away Dalit votes from slums,” a Congress leader told sources.
Janata Dal(Secular), Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) were in the BBMP poll fray which contested hard with the major political parties and posed big hurdles.
