Cong snatches Udupi from BJP

In a major blow to the BJP government in Karnataka,  Congress candidate  Jayaprakash Hegde wrested from the party, the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat with a huge margin of 45,724 votes, defeating his nearest rival BJP’s Sunil Kumar.

Hegde polled 3,98,723 votes, to Sunil Kumar’s tally of 3,52,999 votes. Boje Gowda of the JD(S) secured 72,080 votes.

D V Sadananda Gowda’s resignation after he became the chief minister caused the by-election. Interestingly, right from round one of counting till the last round (18th) on Wednesday, Hegde maintained the lead. In the first round itself, Hegde had a lead of as many as 2,795 votes.

The Congress was jubilant as the victory has given the party a new lease of life. For the BJP, this has been a second loss since November last year, as Independent candidate and former party member B Sreeramulu won the by-election in the Bellary Rural Assembly constituency.

The much awaited success now has signalled a comeback for the Congress as it has had a disastrous performance in other byelections held in the recent past.

After his victory, Hegde told reporters that “the negative aspects of the BJP and the positive aspects of the Congress led me to success.”

The new MP from Udupi-Chikmagalur said after the declaration of results that team work and election strategies worked out by the district and State units of the Congress had helped him win the election. He cited senior party leader Oscar Fernandes’ contribution to the campaign.

Even if former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had campaiged for the BJP (which he did not), “there might have been no major impact,” Hegde said. For Sadananda Gowda, it was  a setback as he had considered the bypoll as absolutely personal.

Gowda’s efforts at achieving victory for the party proved futile. On his part, Hedge said he had nothing personal at stake in the bypoll.