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18 BJP MPs from State crossed 1-lakh victory margin

Last Updated 26 May 2019, 08:23 IST

The Narendra Modi-led BJP saw 18 of its candidates in Karnataka win decisively with a victory margin crossing one lakh, which has been attributed to a massive consolidation of votes and a shrunken support base of the Congress.

Also, the ‘Modi wave’ helped most incumbent MPs surpass their victory margin from 2014, according to Election Commission data.

Hindutva firebrand Anantkumar Hegde saw a 240% increase in his victory margin as he defeated Anand Asnotikar of the JD(S) in the Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha segment by 4.79 lakh votes, the highest gain in the state. He is followed by Suresh Angadi, who retained Belgaum seat by 3.91 lakh votes. Then comes Shobha Karandlaje, who won Udupi-Chikmagalur by 3.49 lakh votes.

The only other BJP candidate in the 3-lakh margin club is debutant Tejasvi Surya, a Hindutva acolyte who defeated senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad by 3.31 lakh votes in Bangalore South. Surya got leads even in the three Congress-ruled assembly segments - Vijaynagar, BTM Layout and Jayanagar. He is the only BJP candidate in Bengaluru whose victory margin increased, while two others - D V Sadananda Gowda and P C Mohan - had their margin reduced from 2014.

“There are two major vote banks in Karnataka. Up north, it is the Lingayats and Ahinda (minorities, backward classes and Dalits). In the south, it is Vokkaligas and Ahinda. The seat-sharing arrangement of the Congress and the JD(S) upset these communities. Hence, the alliance didn’t work,” political analyst S Mahadeva Prakash explained.

The fallout, Prakash said, was that Lambani, Bhovi, Madigas, Valmikis supported the BJP along with Lingayats. “Also, votes from non-Kuruba backward classes shifted to the BJP. For instance, the Ganigas, a community Modi supposedly belongs to,” he said. It is also argued that the United Spectrum of Hindu Votes (USHV) - a term coined by some psephologists - helped the BJP.

“During the Assembly elections last year, some backward classes identified themselves as Hindus first. I’ve been saying this for a year now,” Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who lost from Bangalore North, said. “Back then, it was true for a lesser extent and now for a larger extent.” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao saw it differently, pointing out that the Congress-JD(S) alliance bagged 41.5% votes. “Results vary from election to election,” he said.

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(Published 25 May 2019, 18:22 IST)

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