BJP's Dr Manjunath defeats DK Suresh in Bengaluru Rural

The fight was between Dr CN Manjunath, BJP candidate and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda's son-in-law, and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh.

In 2019, Suresh had braved the Modi wave to become the sole Congress candidate to win in Karnataka. Then, Congress and JD(S) were together. He had bagged 8.78 lakh votes against 6.71 lakh of the BJP. However, this time Manjunath along with BJP and JD(S) together is a combination that has got the DK brothers worried, say political analysts.

According to one expert, if it wasn’t for Dr Manjunath, Suresh would have won the election easily.

Also, in an attempt to consolidate Vokkaligas, who are estimated to have 8-10 lakh votes in the constituency, Suresh’s team promised people that DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, will become the next Chief Minister of the state.

Bengaluru rural, the largely agrarian constituency with sprinkles of urban life, was billed as unpredictable as voters had to choose between Suresh, the Congress’ three-time MP who is accessible when needed and BJP’s Manjunath, the cardiologist who is renowned for revolutionising affordable cardiology in Karnataka.

Rajya Sabha Member Sudha Murty, the former Chairperson of Infosys Foundation, has vowed to visit Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Mantralaya by foot, if National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidate Dr. C.N. Manjunath wins the Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru Rural seat.

BJP versus Congress

The exit polls on June 1 predicted the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning most of the seats in Congress-ruled Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections.

It was predicted that the BJP would win 23-26 Lok Sabha seats of the total 28 in Karnataka, which voted in two phases on April 26 and May 7, according to News18 Mega Exit Poll.

The two major contesting alliances in Karnataka were the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Majority of the NDA candidates were from the  BJP — 25, a smaller portion of the candidates (3) belonged to the Janata Dal (Secular) party [JD(S)]. Meanwhile, all of the 28 candidates representing INDIA belonged from the Indian National Congress (INC).

Previous polls

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been undefeated in Bengaluru South since 1991 while, Bengaluru North has been with the party since 2004 and Bengaluru Central since 2009. The only outlier is Bengaluru Rural, which has swung between the Congress and JDS, and the sitting MP is Congress' DK Suresh.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP almost swept the state by winning 25 out of 28 seats. Congress and JD(S) -- who were in coalition in the state government -- could only win one seat each.

BJP won 25 seats in 2019, which was its best performance both in terms of number of seats and vote share. The Congress, JD(S) and Independent had won one seat each. BJP had won 17 and 19 seats in the 2014 and 2009 general elections, respectively. In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 18 seats while the Congress won eight and the JD (S) was victorious in two constituencies.