Karnataka Bypolls
Credit: DH Illustration, PTI, DH Photos
Congress on Saturday clinched all three Karnataka constituencies of Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon, following the results being declared for the assembly bypolls conducted on November 13.
The bypolls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna were necessitated as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) to Lok Sabha in the May elections.
Here are some key takeaways from the results:
Congress dominated in Karnataka, sweeping all three seats by comfortable margins.
In Channapatna, Congress' C P Yogeeshwara won against JD(S)'s Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, and grandson of H D Deve Gowda, by a margin of 25,413 votes.
A five-time MLA from the segment and a former minister, Yogeeshwara, who is also an actor-turned-politician, had joined the Congress after quitting the BJP ahead of his nomination. He had quit after the saffron party refused to give him a ticket to contest the elections in Channapatna, asking him to contest from a JD(S) ticket, which he refused.
This is Nikhil Kumaraswamy's 3rd consecutive defeat in elections. It was a seat that his father had vacated following HDK's win in Lok Sabha elections and subsequent appointment as union minister.
In Shiggaon, BJP leader and former CM Basavaraj Bommai's son Bharath Bommai lost to Congress' Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan by a margin of 13,448 votes.
For Bharath, this was his first electoral battle. Both his father and grandfather (S R Bommai) have served as Karnataka's chief ministers in the past.
In Sandur, E Annapoorna, wife of Bellary Congress MP E Tukaram, clinched the seat by a margin of 9,649 votes. She defeated BJP's ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu.
Karnataka Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan is one of the Congress leaders that played a major role in this election, with him being part of the party leadership that convinced former Congress MLA Syed Azeempeer Khadri against contesting as an independent in Shiggaon.
Minister Zameer is also the district in charge of Bellary, which Sandur falls under, while it was in a rally in Channapatna that he made his infamous 'Kaala', 'Kalia' comments against H D Kumaraswamy.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar gave credit to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's leadership as well as the five guarantees for the Congress party’s success in the assembly bypolls. Shivakumar said this victory was a prelude to the 2028 assembly election where the party would once again win.
(With PTI inputs)
Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here
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Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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