Congress-JD(S) combine sweeps bypolls in Karnataka, BJP manages to retain Shivamoga Lok Sabha seat

The Congress-JD(S) coalition on Tuesday posted a resounding victory in Karnataka bypolls by winning two out of three Lok Sabha seats and two assembly constituencies. The BJP managed to retain only Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat. Though, the counting is over in all seats, the election commission is yet to officially declare the results. The victory of the bitter political foes-turned-allies will likely to serve as a morale booster for anti-BJP parties to join hands to take on PM Modi in the 2019 general elections. What makes the victory of the Congress-JD(S) coalition special is the huge margins its candidates scored over BJP nominees disproving reports of a close fight in Jamakhandi and Ballari seats. In Ballari, Congress nominee V S Ugrappa defeated J Shantha of BJP by a huge margin of 2.2 lakh, a record for the constituency. The seat was with the BJP since 2004. The result also kicked off a debate whether it is the beginning of the end of the grip of Sruramulu, a close confidante of mining barons Reddy brothers, on Ballari politics. The BJP had fared badly in the assembly elections too. The Jamakhandi assembly segment where the fight appeared more intense sprung a surprise by handing a thumping victory to Congress candidate Anand Nyamagouda. Contrary to expectation of a narrow margin, Anand defeated BJP candidate Srikanth Kulkarni by 39, 000 votes. As expected, the JD(S) candidates Anita Kumaraswamy and L R Shivaramegouda posted huge victories in Ramanagara assembly and Mandya Lol Sabha seats respectively. Anitha won Ramanagar by a margin of 1.1 lakh votes as she had no formidable opponents in the fray after BJP nominee L Chandrashekhar retired just two days ahead of polling. However, the saffron party is polled over 15000 votes. Though Shivaramegowda posted an easy victory in Mandya Lok Sabha seat, the fact that the BJP nominee Dr Siddaramaiah, a political green horn, got over two lakh votes in this JD(S)-Congress stronghold, will serve as a big morale booster for the saffron brigade to focus on the Vokkaliga bastion. In Shivamogga, BY Raghavendra managed to retain the seat vacated by his father and state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa after his election to the state assembly. He defeated JD(S) nominee Madhu Bangarappa by around 50,000 votes in a tough battle. ResultsLok Sabha seats Mandya JD(S): 4,94728 BJP:2,05,357 Ballari Congress:5,88,863 BJP: 3,60,608 Shivamogga BJP: 5,43,306 Congress:4,91,158 Assembly seats Ramanagar JD(S): 1,25,043 BJP: 15,906 Jamakhandi Congress:97,013 BJP: 57, 529 Source: Times of India