26-year-old Congress candidate Sagar Khandre defeats union minister Bhagwant Khuba in Bidar

Sagar Khandre fought elections for the first time, however he has a formidable political lineage on his shoulders. (Image: Siddaramaiah/X)

Sagar Khandre, the 26-year-old Congress candidate fighting the elections for the first time, has won the Bidar seat by defeating the union minister Bhagwant Khuba by a margin of 1.29 lakh votes.

Khandre secured 6,66,317 votes in the constituency, representing 53.6 percent of the total votes.

Although Khandre is the youngest candidate in Karnataka fighting the elections this year, he has a formidable political lineage on his shoulders.

His father Eshwara Khandre is currently serving as Karnataka's forest and environment minister. Khandre is also the grandson of centenarian Congress leader Bheemanna Khandre.

BJP candidate Khuba bagged 5,35,766 votes, representing 43.3 percent of the total votes.

Bidar Lok Sabha constituency comprises eight assembly segments including Chincholi, Aland, Basavakalyan, Humnabad, Bidar South, Bidar, Bhalki and Aurad. Voter turnout in the 2024 elections was 65.47 percent as compared to 64.3 percent in 2019 elections.

This result reflects the improved performance of the Congress party in the state, much better than what was projected across many exit polls.

On June 1, most exit polls had predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning most of the seats in Congress-ruled Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections.

The NDA comprising BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) was expected to win 23-26 Lok Sabha seats out of the total 28 in Karnataka, which voted in two phases on April 26 and May 7, according to News18 Mega Exit Poll.

The Congress was expected to get just 3-7 seats, it said.

Tough battle

Union Minister of State for Fertilizers and Chemicals Bhagwant Khuba had previously won the seat for BJP for two consecutive terms. In 2019, he defeated Congress candidate Eshwara Khandre by a margin of 1,16,834 votes.

In 2014, Khuba had defeated former Karnataka chief minister N Dharam Singh by a margin of 92,192 votes.

However, the union minister was facing anti-incumbency in the constituency as well as opposition from a section of leaders within the party over his candidature, according to multiple media reports.