BJP wins big in all 3 Coastal Karnataka seats despite setbacks in north

BJP was hoping to expand its seat tally in south in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls

BJP has won in all three coastal Karnataka constituencies  even as the party failed to repeat the 2019 success in the state. The coastal region has long been a bastion of BJP.

Contrary to exit poll predictions, BJP has not been able to sweep the state with Congress winning 9 seats in Karnataka. BJP has won 17 seats, while its alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular) won 2 seats.

In Dakshina Kannada, BJP's Captain Brijesh Chowta has won with a margin of almost 1.5 lakh votes. In Udupi-Chikmagalur, the party's Kota Srinivas Poojary has won by over 2.5 lakh votes. In Uttara Kannada, BJP's Vishweshwar Hegde's victory margin was over 3.3 lakh votes.

BJP has won all three coastal Karnataka seats with a thumping majority in 2019 general election as well as in 2014 and 2009.

However, in a big strategic move, BJP has changed its winning candidates of the past three general elections in all three constituencies with new candidates fearing anti-incumbency.

BJP has not lost a Lok Sabha election since 1991. In Uttara Kannada, the BJP has held the seat since 2004, with Ananthkumar Hegde being elected for three consecutive terms. Since delimitation and the formation of the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru seat, the BJP has had the upper hand in the seat. The party’s only defeat came in the 2012 by-elections. In no uncertain terms, when it comes to Lok Sabha elections, this region is a BJP bastion.

In the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency, Kota Srinivas Poojary has replaced Shobha Karandlaje. BJP candidate for Dakshina Kannada is Captain Brijesh Chowta, replacing thrice winner Nalil Kumar Kateel and in Uttara Kannada Vishweshwar Hegde replaced three-times winner and former union minister Anant Kumar Hegde.

Poojary is pitted against Congress’ Jayaprakash Hegde, who is the Chairman of the Karnataka Backward Class Commission. Hegde is fighting off a challenge from Anjali Nimbalkar of Congress, who is not even from the constituency. Chowta is up against Congress’ Deepak Rajesh Coelho.

Unlike in other regions, the infighting in BJP is limited despite the veteran candidates being replaced while Congress does not have any tall leaders campaigning in the region.

In  2019, BJP polled 52 percent of the total votes in the state, cornering 25 out of the 28 LokSabha seats. In 2019, all three of the BJP’s candidates won the elections with fairly comfortable margins. In Udupi-Chikkamagalur, the BJP’s Karandlaje defeated the Congress candidate by a margin of 3 lakh votes. In Uttara Kannada, Hegde’s victory margin stretched to over 3.5 lakh votes. In Dakshina Kannada, Kateel’s victory margin was over 2.5 lakh votes.

Interestingly, even in last year’s assembly elections, when Congress won the state comfortably, BJP had won 13 of the 16 assembly constituencies in the state indicating the extent of BJP’s domination in the region.

Candidates

Dakshina Kannada’s Chowta was formerly associated with the Bharitya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) before being appointed as the BJP State Secretary for Karnataka.

Poojary is a veteran leader and was a Minister with important portfolios in the previous Bommai government. Similarly in Uttara Kannada candidate Hedge is a six term MLA, and the former Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly between 2019 and 2023.