Karnataka MLC polls: Congress registers maiden win in South Graduates' constituency

There were 17 candidates in the fray from the constituency

The Congress registered a huge win in the Karnataka South Graduates' constituency on Thursday, defeating the BJP with a margin of 12,204 votes.

This is the Congress’ first victory in the seat located in the Old Mysuru region, boosting the party’s prospects ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.

Congress candidate Madhu G Madhegowda polled 46,082 votes after counting second preference votes and eliminations, while BJP’s MV Ravishankar got 33,878 votes.

The JD(S), which had a sitting MLC in this constituency, was relegated to the third position with its candidate H K Ramu polling 19,630 votes. The incumbent K T Srikantegowda was not given the JD(S) ticket.

There were 17 candidates in the fray from the South Graduates’ constituency.

In the Karnataka Northwest Graduates' constituency, BJP's Hanumanth Nirani registered a resounding win polling 44,815 of the 56,916 votes. His nearest competitor Sunil Sanka of the Congress polled 10,122 votes. Hanumanth is the younger brother of Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani and was a favourite to win the polls.

In the results for the two Teachers' constituencies announced Wednesday, the BJP and Congress had won one seat each - West Teachers' and Northwest Teachers' constituencies, respectively.

While BJP’s Basavaraj Horatti won, Congress’ Prakash Hukkeri secured a victory.

Both the BJP and Congress have secured two seats each in the Legislative Council elections. BJP retained the North West Graduates' constituency and gained the West Teachers' constituency by virtue of Horatti's recent inclusion to the party from JD(S).

Congress' gains came largely at the expense of JD(S). Hukkeri defeated sitting BJP MLC Arun Shahpur at Northwest Teachers' constituency, its maiden win at South Graduates' constituency came due to some heartburn among JD(S) ranks after Srikantegowda was denied the ticket. In 2016, Srikantegowda had defeated BJP's Ravishankar by a narrow margin.