Karnataka Election Results: Urban Bengaluru stays with BJP

BJP won 16 of the 28 seats in Bengaluru, up from 15 in the last assembly elections, while Congress managed to retain its tally of 12.

Be it the anti-incumbency wave, the BJP’s disregard for the 40 percent corruption charges against the Bommai government, or the bitter political campaign, none of this seem to have fazed the electorate of India’s information technology capital, Bengaluru, with most of the constituencies of the region largely voting for status quo.

A look at the key constituencies of Bengaluru, spread across the Lok Sabha constituencies Bangalore North, Bangalore South, Bangalore Central, Bangalore Rural and Chikballapur shows that Bengaluru stands at odds with the rest of the state, even rewarding those who had crossed over to the BJP during Operation Kamala in 2019.

Along with coastal Karnataka, the IT capital was the face saver for the saffron party, as the Congress recorded the biggest win for any party in the state in the last three decades.

BJP won 16 of the 28 seats in Bengaluru, up from 15 in the last assembly elections, while Congress managed to retain its tally of 12.

Also Read | Karnataka Verdict: A secular disaster — neither religion nor caste politics came to BJP’s aid

Yeshwantpura, one of the biggest Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru city in terms of geographical area and the number of voters, has always been the political arena of “bigwigs” and “resourceful” leaders. In one of the most closely-watched seats, BJP’s ST Somashekar, a minister in Chief Minister Bommai’s cabinet, retained the seat polling 1,69,149 votes, defeating TN Javarayi Gowda of JD (S), who polled 1,54,031 votes. Yeshvanthapura had seen a voter turnout of 63.69 percent.

A Congress rebel, Somashekhar had won the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2019 by-election. Once a close aide of Congress leader Siddaramaiah, Somashekhar sprung a surprise on all when he switched to the BJP during the infamous political defections that led to the downfall of JD (S)-Congress coalition government in 2019. In the 2018 elections, he had won the seat on a Congress ticket.

Ministers sent packing

Though the Karnataka electorate sent nearly half a dozen of the sitting ministers in the outgoing government packing, BJP’s R Ashoka made it past the post at Padmanabhanagar. He polled 98,750 votes against his rival, V Raghunatha Naidu of the Congress, who managed only 43,575 votes. JD (S)’s B Manjunath came in third with 7,857 votes.

Krishna Byre Gowda, another political bigwig, retained the Byatarayanapura seat for the Congress. He has been representing the constituency since June 2008, and has served as the Minister of Rural Development, Law, and Parliamentary Affairs in the cabinet of former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in 2018-19, and was also the Minister of Agriculture in the cabinet of Siddaramaiah from May 2013-2018.
He defeated Thammesh Gowda H C of the BJP, polling 1,60,182 votes against Gowda’s 1,21,978. Byatarayanapura had seen a low voter turnout of 56.6 percent.

BJP’s Dr CN Ashwathnarayana retained the Malleshwaram constituency by a margin of over 40,000 votes, defeating Anup Iyengar of the Congress, who polled 39,104 votes. In 2018, he had defeated Kengal Shreepadharenu of the Congress by a margin of 54,000 votes.

High drama at Jayanagar

Jayanagar witnessed high drama that continued late into the night and the early hours of Sunday, before the officials declared BJP’s C K Ramamurthy the victor by a slender margin of 16 votes.

The drama began when BJP demanded a recount after officials initially announced that Sowmya Reddy, daughter of ex-minister Ramalinga Reddy, had won by a margin of 294 votes.

With supporters of both the parties converging on the R V Institute of Management, the result was announced after multiple rounds of recounting amid protests by the Congress. According to the final announcement, Congress's Sowmya Reddy got 57,781 votes (47.85 per cent vote share), and Dr Ramamurthy secured 57,797 votes.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar accused Election Commission officials of trying to change Sowmya Reddy’s result. "The Congress candidate of Jayanagar Assembly Constituency, Mrs. Soumya Reddy, has won but protested against the action of election officials, who tried to distort the result on the pretext of recount," Shivakumar said, tweeting in Kannada with a picture of him seated with state working president Ramalinga Reddy.

But, Ramalinga Reddy himself made it past the post at BTM Layout, defeating BJP’s Sridhar Reddy with a margin of over 8,000 votes. He polled 68,557 votes as against his BJP rival’s 59,335 votes.

Nail-biting finish

In another close race, former State Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao, son of former Chief Minister M R Gundu Rao, sneaked past the post with a slender margin of 115 votes at Gandhi Nagar, staving off the stiff challenge offered by BJP’s A R Saptagiri Gowda. Dinesh Gundu Rao polled 54,118 votes to Saptagiri Gowda’s 54,013 votes. Narayanaswamy of the JD (S) came third with 12,857 votes.

Gandhi Nagar comes under Bangalore Central district. The constituency saw a voter turnout of 57.28 percent in these assembly elections.

In 2018, Dinesh Gundu Rao had won the seat defeating AR Sapthagiri Gowda with a margin of 10,070 votes.

BJP’s Ravi Subramanya LA retained the Basavanagudi seat defeating Congress candidate UB Venkatesh by a margin of 54,978 votes. He polled 78,854 votes, including 498 postal votes, while Venkatesh got 23,876 votes, including 122 postal votes.

In 2018, Ravi Subramanya had won the seat defeating K Bagegowda of the Janata Dal (Secular). This time, JD (S) came third with its candidate Aramane Shankar polling just 19,931 votes.

In Rajaji Nagar, BJP’s S Suresh Kumar retained the seat polling 58,624 votes against his Congress opponent, Puttanna, who polled 50,564 votes.

BJP retained the Yelahanka seat, with the party’s SR Vishwanath polling 1,08,348 votes against Congress’ Keshava Rajanaa B, who polled 61,612 votes. Yelahanka had recorded a voter turnout of 62.68 percent. In 2018, Vishwanath had won the seat by defeating A M Hanumanthegowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) by a margin of 42,503 votes.
In Mahalakshmi Layout, BJP’s K Gopalaiah retained the seat by polling 96,424 votes and defeating Keshava Murthy of the Congress, who polled 45,259 votes.

Congress’ Rizwan Arshad retained the Shivajinagar seat polling 64,913 votes against 41,719 votes polled by N Chandru of the BJP. Shivajinagar comes under Bangalore Central district. In 2019, Rizwan Arshad had won the seat defeating M Saravana of the BJP by a margin of 13,521 votes.

In Dasarahalli, BJP wrested the seat from JD (S), with S Muniraju winning by polling 91,289 votes against the sitting JD (S) MLA, R Manjunatha, who polled 82,095 votes.

BJP’s BA Basavaraj retained the K R Pura seat, which had recorded 52.68 percent voter turnout, winning by a margin of over 24, 000 votes against DK Mohan of Congress. Basavaraj polled 1,39,235 votes against Mohan’s 1,15,624.

BJP also retained the Mahadevapura (SC) seat, with Manjula Aravind Limbavali polling 1,81,268 votes against Congress’ H Nagesh, who polled 1,36,875. In 2018, her husband Aravind Limbavali had won the seat by defeating AC Srinivasa of the Congress by a margin of 17,784 votes. This time, the party denied the ticket to her husband and fielded her instead, owing to some unsavoury controversies.

BJP has retained the Bengaluru South constituency, with M Krishnappa polling 1,96,220 votes against 1,46,521 votes polled by his Congress rival, R K Ramesh.

The Congress retained the Anekal SC seat, with sitting MLA B Shivanna validating the faith shown in him by the party leadership. Shivanna polled 1,34,797 votes, defeating Srinivas C Hullahalli of BJP, who polled 1,03,472 votes.

In Bengaluru South Lok Sabha segment’s Govindraj Nagar constituency, Priyakrishnna of Congress won polling over 82,000 votes. BJP’s Umesh Shetty came second with about 70,000 votes.

In Vijaya Nagar, M Krishnappa of the Congress retained the seat, polling over 80,000 votes, defeating BJP’s H Raveendra, who polled 72,605 votes.
BJP’s Uday Garudachar won from Chickpet, polling 57,136 votes and defeating R V Devraj of Congress, who polled 45,186 votes.