By-elections for two Assembly seats were held in Karnataka (Archive)
Bangalore:
The BJP has completed a clean sweep in the Karnataka elections, beating both Sira in Tumkur district and Rajarajeshwarinagar in Bengaluru to add to its 119-seat tally in the Assembly and strengthen the government of BS Yediyurappa.
The ruling party got around 13,000 more votes than Congress in Sira and played home in Rajarajeshwarinagar, or RR Nagar, recording more than 57,000 more votes than the opposition party.
The BJP had predicted these results, and Senior Deputy Minister Dr. Ashwath Narayan told NDTV: “We are 100%, 1000% confident that we will win the elections in Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar.”
The head of the Karnataka Congress, DK Shivakumar, said: “The government abused the officials. I will not discuss the way the money was used. We have failed, that’s all. People did not vote for us as much as we expected.”
The RR Nagar bypoll was necessary after the disqualification of the former MLA N Munirathna Congress under the anti-desertion law; Munirathna, who won the seat in two previous elections, had resigned from Congress last year and joined the BJP.
He was one of 17 members of Congress and the JDS whose resignations triggered the dramatic collapse of the 14-month coalition government.
In December last year, during the first round of by-elections in which 15 seats were contested, the BJP deployed 13 of those rogue MLAs; 11 won their contests and in total the party won 12 seats.
To retain RR Nagar, Congress had sent H Kusuma, the widow of the late IAS officer DK Ravi, while the JDS nominated V Krishnamurthy.
A bypoll was needed for Sira’s seat after the death of the practicing MLA, B Sathyanarayana of JDS, in August. The Congress appointed the former minister and six-time MLA TB Jayachandra, while the JDS nominated Mr. Sathyanarayana’s wife, B Ammajamma.
They both lost to BJP’s Dr. CM Rajesh Gowda, who registered more than 74,000 votes. Previously, the BJP’s highest yield for this seat was just 24,000. This is the third seat in this region that the party has claimed in by-elections, following victories in Krishnarajpete and Chikkaballapura in December.
In terms of numbers, none of the results will make any difference to the stability of the state government, given the BJP’s numerical superiority in the House.
However, prestige is part of the policy and all parties involved campaigned vigorously, with state leaders active on the ground, often with little regard for social distancing during COVID-19.
With input from PTI
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