Mega victory for saffron party in Chikkamagaluru

The BJP has won four seats out of five Assembly constituencies in Chikkamagaluru district while the Congress has won one seat.

C T Ravi has won for the fourth consecutive term from Chikkamagaluru constituency. Other winners are D S Suresh (Tarikere), K S Prakash (Kadur), M P Kumaraswamy (Mudigere reserve constituency) and Congress candidate T D Raje Gowda from Sringeri. The JD(S) failed to open its account in the district.

There were 60 candidates in fray in the district.

In Chikkamagaluru constituency, there were 18 candidates in the fray. BJP candidate C T Ravi polled 70,863 votes while Congress candidate B L Shankar could poll only 44,549 votes and JD(S) candidate B H Harish secured 38,317 votes.

Former MLC Gayathri Shanthe Gowda’s followers had expressed displeasure after the Congress announced its candidate B L Shankar in the constituency.

According to BJP leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Chikkamagaluru three days ahead of the election has helped the party to win.

In an interesting development, BJP candidate D N Jeevaraj who had won thrice from the constituency lost to Congress candidate Rajegowda with a small margin of 1,989 votes.

Rajegowda polled 62,780 while D N Jeevaraj polled 60,791 votes. JD(S) candidate H G Venkatesh secured 9,799 votes. BJP rebel candidate Praveen Khandya who contested as an independent candidate could secure only 1,294 votes, which proved costly for the BJP candidate, said BJP leaders. BJP national president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath failed to convert votes for its candidate Jeevraj in the constituency.

Mudigere is the only reserved constituency in the district. Former MLA and BJP candidate M P Kumaraswamy defeated Congress candidate Motamma by a margin of 12,512 votes. The sitting MLA B B Nigaiah of JD(S) was pushed to the third position in the constituency. M P Kumaraswamy polled 58,783 votes while Motamma polled 46,271.

In Tarikere, BJP candidate D S Suresh won against independent candidate G H Srinivas. Suresh polled 44,940 votes while G H Srinivas who was the sitting MLA in the constituency polled 33,253 votes and Congress candidate S M Nagaraj could secure only 20,402 votes.

Kadur constituency too had an interesting development with the voters not favouring JD(S) popular leader Y S V Datta and helping the victory of the BJP’s K S Prakash. Prakash polled 62,232 while Y S V Datta polled 46,860, and Congress candidate K S Anand came third with 46,142 votes.