BJP retains all three Bengaluru Lok Sabha constituencies

Surya got 750,830 votes similar to his 2019 performance, and won with a margin of 277,083. Total vote share stood at 60.1 percent.

In Karnataka, BJP won 17 out of 28 constituencies, Congress got 9 and Janata Dal (Secular) won in 2 constituencies respectively.

The Karnataka capital has been a BJP stronghold where the Congress last won a Lok Sabha election 25 years ago, when CK Jaffer Sharief won from Bengaluru North in 1999.

The steady triumph of the saffron squad through the past decade has been driven mainly by the city’s sizeable migrant population, Narendra Modi’s growing popularity, caste dynamics, the BJP's grassroot-level party machinery, and weak Opposition candidates.

But this time around, there had been some tough competition to watch out for as the Congress fielded strong candidates.

However, the final results were a miss on News18 Mega Exit Poll 2024, wherein the NDA, comprising BJP and Janata Dal (Secular), was projected to win about 23-26 seats out of the 28 constituencies in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, the Congress was expected to win 3-7 seats, a marginal improvement from its 2019 tally.

Bengaluru South

Here the battle was between the BJP’s youth leader Tejasvi Surya and former Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy of the Congress.

Reddy is also the daughter of state transport minister and Karnataka Congress president Ramalinga Reddy.

She banked on the Grand Old Party’s five guarantees, especially the free bus travel for women and unemployment allowance for the youth. She also likely received the support of the Reddy community.

Surya, on the other hand, had the backing from the JDS-BJP alliance, Modi's promises, his parliamentary performance, and support from the RSS and the Brahmin community as favourable factors.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Surya had won by a lead of 3.3 lakh votes, cornering 62.2 percent share of votes.

Also read: BJP-led NDA to win big in Karnataka, no major uptick for Congress: News18 exit poll

Bengaluru Central

Consisting IT hubs like Mahadevapura and CV Raman Nagar, Bengaluru Central saw an anti-incumbency trend playing in the initial vote counting phase, as citizens had complained of poor infrastructure and accessibility issues.

But BJP’s PC Mohan continued to have high hopes for a fourth-time re-election after mopping up 50.3 percent votes in the 2019 elections.

Congress had nominated Mansoor Ali Khan, an educationalist and son of K Rahman Khan, a former Union minister, to run him down.

Bengaluru North

The Congress, which had its last victory from the seat in 1999, hoped to reverse the trend by fielding intellectual figure MV Rajeev Gowda, and betting on the five guarantees that were implemented in the state. The former IIM-B professor and Wharton-Berkley graduate tried to woo the city’s techies and professionals during the campaign.

Gowda was pitted against BJP leader and Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje. She emphasises her familiarity with the constituency, having served as the legislator from Yeswantpur in 2018.

In 2019, DV Sadananda Gowda of the BJP had pulled off a victory in this constituency with 52.8 percent vote share.

Also read: Battle for Bengaluru: BJP looks to keep up winning streak; Cong banks on guarantees for breakthrough