BJP wins 4 seats in Karnataka, leads in 15

BANGALORE: In the results declared till pre-noon, the BJP had won four seats in Karnataka, was leading in 15 Lok Sabha constituencies followed by the Congress in 7 and the JD(S) in two. The four results declared were from Shimoga, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa succeeded in his maiden debut to the Parliament by winning with a margin of two lakh votes. So did former minister Shobha Karnadlaje from Udupi-Chikmagalur by winning with a margin of 1.63 lakh votes. The other seat was Dakshina Kannada where sitting BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel retained by trouncing former MP B Janardhana Poojary. The BJP had lost the coastal belt in the 2013 assembly elections and now regained it with BJP candidate Ananath Kumar Hegde defeating Congress rival Prashant Deshpande by a margin of 1,40,000 votes. The Congress, while yet to open its account, is facing upsets in many constituencies. In the much hyped Bangalore South, former UDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani was trailing by a margin of 2.5 lakh votes with BJP's H N Ananth Kumar set to win for the sixth consecutive time. Nilekani, who arrived at the counting centre early left after the third round saying he has to have his breakfast. In Bangalore North former CM, BJP candidate D V Sadananda Gowda had established a huge lead of 40,000 over his Congress rival C Narayanaswamy, while in Bangalore Central it is a see-saw battle between state youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad, who is leading by a 18,000 votes over sitting BJP MP P C Mohan. For the Congress the ray of hope is in Bangalore Rural, where energy minister D K Shiva Kumar's brother and present MP D K Suresh is comfortable with a lead of 50,000 votes. In Mandya, actor, Congress candidate Ramya is trailing by a margin of 30,000 votes. The other hopeful seats for the Congress were Chikballapur with Union minister M Veerappa Moily leading by 1.25 lakh votes, railways minister Mallikarjun M Kharge in Gulbarga and in Raichur B V Naik. Former PM H D Deve Gowda was comfortably placed in Hassan.   TOI