K'taka bypolls: BJP wins 12, Congress 2, JD(S) 0

 In a near sweep, a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 12 seats, while the Congress managed just 2 and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) faced total rout in Karnataka's by-elections for 15 Assembly seats held on December 5, an official said on Monday.

"Of all the results declared for the 15 Assembly seats, the BJP won 12, Congress 2, while the JD-S drew a blank," poll official G. Jadiyappa told IANS here.

An Independent, backed by the JD-S, won from Hosakote in Bengaluru Rural district.

The BJP won in Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur, K.R. Pura, Yeshvanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout and Krishnarajapete.

The Congress won in Hunasur in Mysuru district and Shivajinagara in Bengaluru central.

As the ruling BJP needed only 7 seats in the 223-member Assembly for a simple majority with 112 as the halfway mark, the four-month-old BJP government will continue in office for over three years till the five-year term of the present Assembly lapses in May 2023.

The BJP secured 50.3 per cent of the total votes polled, the Congress 31.3 per cent and the JD-S 12.1 per cent in the 15 Assembly segments.

The BJP fielded 11 Congress and 3 JD-S defectors to wrest the seats from both the opposition parties.

The Congress won 2 of the 15 seats it contested while the JD-S lost in all the 12 seats it contested across the state.

Independent Sharat Kumar Bachegowda won the high-profile Hosakote seat against BJP's M.T.B. Nagaraj by a margin of 11,486 votes. Bachegowda had declared assets worth Rs 1,230 crore in his poll affidavit.

Nagaraj is a Congress defector, while Bachegowda is a BJP rebel whom the party expelled for not withdrawing from the crucial battle at the hustings as an Independent.

JD-S did not field its candidate in Hosakote but supported Bachegowda, who is the son of BJP's Lok Sabha member from Chikkaballapur, B.N. Bache Gowda.

Constituency-wise, the BJP candidate won the Athani seat, defeating Congress candidate Gajanan Bhalachandra Mangasuli by a margin of 39,989 votes.

In Kagwad, Shrimant Balasaheb Patil from the BJP defeated Congress candidate Bharamgouda Alagouda Kage by a margin of 18,557 votes.

BJP's Jarkiholi Ramesh Laxmanrao won in Gokak against Congress' Lakhan Laxamrao Jarakiholi by a margin of 29,006 votes.

In Yellapur, BJP candidate Arabail Hebbar Shivaram defeated Bhimanna Naik of the Congress by 31,408 votes.

In Hirekerur, B.C. Patil of the BJP defeated Congress candidate Bannikod Basappa Hanumantappa by 29,067 votes.

BJP candidate Arunkumar Guththur won against K.B. Koliwad in Ranibennur by a margin of 23,222 votes.

In Vijayanagara, BJP's Anand Singh defeated V.Y. Ghorpade of the Congress by 30,125 votes.

K. Sudhakar of the BJP defeated M. Anjanappa of the Congress in Chikkaballapur by a margin of 34,801 votes.

In Bengaluru city, BJP's B.A. Basavaraja won in K.R. Pura, defeating M. Narayanaswamy by a margin of 63,443 votes.

In the city's Yeshwantpura constituency, BJP's S.T. Somashekar defeated JD(S) contestant T.N. Javarayi Gowda by 27,699 votes.

BJP's K. Gopalaiah defeated Congress contestant M. Shivaraju in Mahalakshmi Layout by a margin of 54,386 votes.

In Bengaluru, Congress' Rizwan Arshad won from Shivajinagar, defeating BJP's Saravana by a margin of 13,521 votes.

Narayan Gowda from the BJP defeated B.L. Devaraj from the JD(S) in Krishnarajapete by a margin of 9,731 votes.

In Hunasuru, H.P. Manjunath from the Congress defeated BJP candidate Adagooru H.A Vishwanath by a margin of 39,727 votes.IANS