Karnataka Polls 2023: What happened in key constituencies

Congress's landslide victory is being concieved as a comeback. The only southern state where BJP had made its mark has rejected it rather brutally. The landslide victory of Congress has boosted its confidence and also revived its chances in the upcoming assembly elections and also in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The celebrations have started pouring in for Congress with leaders like Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee halting the results as a sounding defeat to politics of polarization and hate and a true echo of Kannadiga pride.

Also Read | As lotus withers in South India, Congress finds a silver lining

Outgoing CM Basavaraj Bommai has taken responsibility for the defeat of BJP in the state adding that the party will analyse where it fell short.

The crucial Karnataka polls, however, had key constituencies that were keenly observed.

Also Read | After Karnataka win, Opposition must unite

Shiggaon

This seat was one of the key constituencies as Basavaraj Bommai filed his nomination from here. Though BJP was reduced to two digits, Bommai registered an outstanding victory defeating Congress’s Pathan Yasir Ahmed Khan by a margin of 35,978 votes.

Varuna

The stakes were high in the Varuna constituency as Congress stalwart and CM contender Siddaramaiah took on one of BJP’s prominent leaders V. Somanna. Siddarmaiah emerged victorious here by a margin of more than 35,000 votes.

Kanakapura

Kanakapura constituency has remained D K Shivakumar’s bastion since 2008. The leader who is also in the running for the CM post won with a whopping margin of more than lakh vote. JD(S) candidate B Nagaraju was second in the race and the BJP candidate was pushed to the third position here.

Hassan

Embroiled in family drama, Hassan was looking forward to keenly regarding who will have the final win in this constituency. H D Revanna wanted to pitch his wife Bhavani Revanna as the candidate here. However, Deve Gowda chose late MLA H S Prakash’s son Swaroop Prakash. It is safe to say that the supremo’s decision didn’t go wrong as Swaroop Prakash defeated BJP’s Preetham J Gowda by more than 7854 votes.

Hubbali Dharwad-Central

The BJP turncoat Jagadish Shettar who was able to create waves in Karnataka politics after he switched to Congress for not getting ticket from BJP and filed his nomination from Hubbali Dharwad-Central.

The leader who attacked BJP and exuded confidence of swaying the Lingayat community’s votes before elections has lost to BJP’s Mahesh Tenginakai by a margin of more than 34,000 votes.

Channapatna

This was one of the key constituencies as JD(S)’s top leader, H D Kumaraswamy was contesting from this seat. HDK has managed to register a victory defeating BJP candidate C P Yogeshwara by a margin of 15,915 votes.

Chittapur

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge won for the third time from the Chittapur constituency. This time he defeated BJP’s Manikanta Rathod by more than 13,000 votes.

Shikaripura

This constituency was important as former CM B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra chose this seat to make his electoral debut. He emerged victorious and defeated Independent candidate S P Nagaraja Gowda by a margin of 11,008 votes.