The Congress party faced defeat in the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency, but notably outperformed the BJP in only the Mangalore assembly segment out of the eight assembly constituencies in Dakshina Kannada. The BJP’s winning margin has reduced compared to 2019, where former BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel won by a lead of 2,74,621 votes against Congress candidate Mithun Rai, who had bagged 4,99,664 votes. Capt Brijesh Chowta emerged victorious with 7,64,132 votes, securing a lead of 1,49,208 votes over his closest competitor from the Congress, Padmaraj R Poojary.
Chowta secured 53.9% of the total votes, maintaining a lead in seven out of eight assembly constituencies. However, Poojary managed to maintain a lead only in the Mangalore assembly constituency, represented by Karnataka speaker UT Khader. Poojary secured 97,933 votes, surpassing Captain Chowta, who garnered 64,870 votes. Interestingly, in the previous assembly elections, Khader had secured 83,219 votes, while BJP’s Sathish Kumpala, the district president of the BJP, secured 60,429 votes, indicating an improvement in the BJP’s performance by 4,441 votes in Mangalore.
Chowta garnered substantial leads in other constituencies, securing 1,01,408 votes in Belthangady, 1,08,137 votes in Mangalore City North, 1,00,247 votes in Puttur, and 1,02,762 votes in Sullia. On the other hand, Padmaraj managed to secure 78,101 votes, 76,716 votes, 71,557 votes, and 63,615 votes in Belthangady, Mangalore City North, Puttur, and Sullia, respectively.
In the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency, Congress candidate K Jayaprakash Hegde failed to get a lead in any of the eight assembly constituencies. The BJP, relying heavily on the Modi wave, saw its veteran leader Kota Shrinivas Poojari win by a margin of 2,59,175 votes. Poojary got a massive lead in Kundapur and Udupi assembly constituencies, where he secured 1,07,173 and 1,06,489 votes, respectively, against Hegde, who secured only 57,078 and 62,748 votes, respectively, in these constituencies.
