Falling short of its expectations, the ruling BJP had to contend with just 10 seats in the biennial polls held on December 18, to fill up the 25 seats of the legislative council. The BJP was hoping to win 15 seats to gain control of the 75-member Upper House. But now, it has fallen four short of a majority.
On the other hand, the poll-alliance between the Congress and JD(S) paid the expected dividends, with Congress bagging 10 seats and JD(S) five. However, in real numbers, the Congress has suffered a loss by winning only 10 of the 19 seats it earlier held.
Political equations in the state have undergone a big change, from what the scenario was six years ago, when the Congress had scored big victories. In real terms, with the 10 seats it wonon Monday, the BJP will now have 34 members in the Upper House of the legislature by retaining three of the four seats and gaining by seven. Pratapachandra Shetty of the Congress and K Srinivasapujary of the BJP had already won unopposed from Dakshina Kannada district.
The first result of the bypoll held from the local bodies’ constituencies went the Congress way as its candidate T John won from Kodagu. BJP suffered losses in Bangalore too, with Congress candidate Dayananda Reddy bagging the Bangalore Urban seat, while Bangalore Rural seat went to JD(S) candidate, E Krishnappa. In Mandya, B Ramakrishna of JD(S) defeated his BJP rival JD Shivakumar by a margin of 2,011 votes.
The BJP, however, heaved a sigh of relief in chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s backyard, Shimoga, where its candidate RK Siddaramanna trounced Congress candidate Mahima Patel. Gayathri Shante Gowda of Congress, the lone woman candidate in the fray, emerged victorious in Chikmagalur.
In Mysore, which has two seats, Sandesh Nagaraj of JD(S) and Prof Mallikarjunappa of BJP registered victories. MR Hulinaikar and Patel Shivaram of JD(S) won from Tumkur and Hassan, respectively.
Raichur and Bidar have been bagged by BJP candidates Halappa Achar and Basavaraj Patil Humnabad.
Reacting to the bypoll results, KPCC president RV Deshpande termed it as a rejection of BJP’s misrule in the state and asked Yeddyurappa to accept the defeat. JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy asked Yeddyurappa to correct his mistakes by saying that the BJP should read the public anger against Operation Lotus, the politics of money and muscle in the state.
After Monday’s outcome, the party positions in the 75-member house will be: BJP with 34 seats, Congress with 20 seats including the chairman, JD(S) with 17, Janata Dal United with one seat, and three Independents.
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