The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state made a clean sweep of the by-elections of April 9, winning all the three seats by comfortable margins.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state made a clean sweep of the by-elections of April 9, winning all the three seats by comfortable margins. The results, declared on Friday, come as a blow to the opposition Congress and JD(S), which had hoped that voters would deliver a strong message to the BJP, whose Operation Lotus necessitated by-polls in Chennapatna, Jagalur and Bangarpet assembly constituencies.
BJP candidate CP Yogeshwar won 17,803 votes more than his rival, SL Nagaraj of the JD(S), in Chennapatna. In Jagalur, a constituency reserved for scheduled tribes, BJP’s SV Ramachandra defeated his nearest rival HP Rajesh (an independent and a BJP rebel) by 4,432 votes. In Bangarpet, which was reserved for a scheduled caste candidate, M Narayanaswamy of the BJP defeated KM Narayanaswamy of the Congress by 4,044 votes.
With this, the BJP has snatched Bangarapet and Jagalur from the Congress and Chennapatna from JD(S).
Upset over the defeat, JD(S) candidate C Venkateshappa announced that he would quit the party.
With this victory, the BJP’s strength in the 224-member assembly goes up from 106 to 109 seats, including the speaker. The BJP also has the support of the lone independent in the house, Varthur Prakash. The Congress has 71 members, and the JD(S) 26.
It may be recalled that in October 2010, SV Ramachandra and M Narayanaswamy of Congress and MC Ashwath of the JD(S) quit their parties and joined the BJP.
Ramachandra and Narayanaswamy re-contested, but Ashwath did not. Yogeshwar, who had lost the earlier by-election to the JD(S), managed to win the Chennapatna seat this time.
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