BJP looks like improving vote share in Vokkaliga strong belt
The constituencies where the bye elections have been necessitated include Mandya,Shivamogga and Ballari Lok Sabha constituencies while Ramanagar in Ramanagar district and Jamakhandi in Bagalkote district are the two Assembly constituencies scheduled to go for polls.
Bye elections to Lok Sabha constituencies is being held as the MPs' representing Mandya(CS Puttaraju),Shivamogga(BS Yeddyurappa) and Ballari(B Sriramulu) were elected to the state Assembly during the May 2018 general elections.
HD Kumaraswamy,Chief Minister and leader of the 37 members' Janata Dal Secular legislative party in a house with a total strength of 224 elected members had won from Ramanagar,his traditional home constituency along with the neighboring Channapattna as well.But post elections he preferred to retain the latter and resigned from Ramanagar.
Siddu Nyamegouda,Congress MLA representing Jamakhandi Assembly constituency had an accidental death while returning from New Delhi via Goa.He had gone to the national capital to lobby for a berth in the state cabinet.However he passed away in a fatal road accident.
CS Puttaraju representing the Janata Dal Secular has become a minister in the JDS-Congress alliance government after he won from Melukote Assembly constituency defeating Darshan Puttannaiah,son of the late Sarvodaya Party and Karnataka State Farmers' Association leader KS Puttannaiah.
Darshan Puttanaiah, a software professional by profession was well settled in the United States by setting up his own information technology related companies.But after his father's demise he returned back to the country permanently forgoing his business and professional career in the US with a fond hope of carrying further his Dad's mantle for fighting for the peasant classes.
KS Puttannaiah was representing Melukote in the previous Assembly and happened to be the lone voice of the farmers associations in the house.He was also elected as Pandavapura MLA during 1994.The ruling Congress under the leadership of Siddaramaiah supported the candidature of Darshan Puttannaiah by not fielding its own candidate to pay homage for the departed farmers leader.
On the other hand HD Devegowda,who proclaims himself to be the son of a poor farmer committed to the well being of the farming community,forget extending support to Darshan Puttannaiah instead ensured his defeat!
Three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies in the state will be going to the polls on 3 November although less than six months tenure will be left for the new MPs' getting elected on 6 November when the electronic voting machines will declare the results.
The constituencies where the bye elections have been necessitated include Mandya,Shivamogga and Ballari Lok Sabha constituencies while Ramanagar in Ramanagar district and Jamakhandi in Bagalkote district are the two Assembly constituencies scheduled to go for polls.
Bye elections to Lok Sabha constituencies is being held as the MPs' representing Mandya(CS Puttaraju),Shivamogga(BS Yeddyurappa) and Ballari(B Sriramulu) were elected to the state Assembly during the May 2018 general elections.
HD Kumaraswamy,Chief Minister and leader of the 37 members' Janata Dal Secular legislative party in a house with a total strength of 224 elected members had won from Ramanagar,his traditional home constituency along with the neighboring Channapattna as well.But post elections he preferred to retain the latter and resigned from Ramanagar.
Siddu Nyamegouda,Congress MLA representing Jamakhandi Assembly constituency had an accidental death while returning from New Delhi via Goa.He had gone to the national capital to lobby for a berth in the state cabinet.However he passed away in a fatal road accident.
CS Puttaraju representing the Janata Dal Secular has become a minister in the JDS-Congress alliance government after he won from Melukote Assembly constituency defeating Darshan Puttannaiah,son of the late Sarvodaya Party and Karnataka State Farmers' Association leader KS Puttannaiah.
Darshan Puttanaiah, a software professional by profession was well settled in the United States by setting up his own information technology related companies.But after his father's demise he returned back to the country permanently forgoing his business and professional career in the US with a fond hope of carrying further his Dad's mantle for fighting for the peasant classes.
KS Puttannaiah was representing Melukote in the previous Assembly and happened to be the lone voice of the farmers associations in the house.He was also elected as Pandavapura MLA during 1994.The ruling Congress under the leadership of Siddaramaiah supported the candidature of Darshan Puttannaiah by not fielding its own candidate to pay homage for the departed farmers leader.
On the other hand HD Devegowda,who proclaims himself to be the son of a poor farmer committed to the well being of the farming community,forget extending support to Darshan Puttannaiah instead ensured his defeat!
The outcome of the three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituency results is either going to make any significant difference at the national nor at the state level.But the voting patterns in all of them is definitely bound to be an eyeopener for all the three contenders BJP,Congress and the JDS for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls during 2019.
It is in this context the bye elections have aroused much interest among the political circles.An interesting development this time around is the surge of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) as also one of the contenders in the absence of any candidate from the Congress party in two Lok Sabha and one Assembly constituency.
The saffron party has been struggling to make its presence felt at least in a nominal way in the whole of the old Mysuru region also well known as a Vokkaliga strong belt.Janata Dal Secular has secular in its name but it's political existence and influence is limited only to the old Mysuru areas and elsewhere across the state the influence and representation is literally insignificant.
But for Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts the BJP has still a long way to go to have a sizeable representation in the region.During the 2018 May state Assembly elections the party also faced a severe drubbing in the state capital itself which was hitherto considered as the stronghold of the party!
The present bye elections have also given rise to the internal bickering of both the alliance partners in open.Though HD Kumaraswamy has been winning the Ramanagar Assembly constituency continuously his winning margin is simultaneously dipping after every election.
He had won by a margin of 25,398 votes during 2013 by mustering 56.12 percentage of the votes polled while Maridevaru of the Congress who lost polled 58,049 votes and 39.04 percent of votes.But during 2018 elections Kumaraswamy got reelected by bagging 92,626 votes and 53.96 vote share.On the other hand Iqbal Hussain of the Congress got 69,990 votes and 40.77 percent of vote share.
No doubt it's not an alarming decrease in terms of poll statistics but the revolt of Congressmen to the advantage of BJP is going to make a big change for the latter in garnering more votes than earlier.The details of votes polled by the BJP candidates during different elections are as follows:24,440(2008),1,776(
But thanks to rebellion among the rank and file of local Congress for not fielding a Congress candidate,local leader Chandrasekhar Lingappa has jumped to the BJP and is now the official candidate.He happens to be the son of CM Lingappa,Congress MLC.
CM Lingappa is equally upset for not fielding the party candidate in Ramanagar as the tendency will wipe out the party from the district is also candid about his stance.He has ruled out possibilities of campaigning for the JDS candidate.Anitha Kumaraswamy,first wife of HD Kumaraswamy is the JDS candidate here.
In fact CM Lingappa had sprung a surprise during the 1996 bye polls when he defeated MH Ambareesh,film star.The bye polls had taken place as HD Devegowda had vacated the seat following his elevation as Prime Minister.
So in a way it's a tricky situation and much depends upon the efforts of disgruntled Congress leaders to make or mar the winning chances of the JDS candidate.But one thing is for sure that the BJP will muster a huge vote share unprecedented so far.Its more or less the same situation in the neighboring Mandya Lok Sabha constituency as well.Here again the Congress has been given a go away to contest the bye polls.CS Puttaraju of the JDS had won from here by defeating film heroine Ramya of the Congress.
He won by bagging 5,24,370 votes defeating Ramya by a meagre margin of 5,518 votes.The mood in the Congress circles is no better either here.Interestingly the BJP has fielded Siddaramaiah,retired Commercial Tax officer as its candidate.Again,thanks to the animosity of the Congress leaders towards the JDS,the BJP is bound to improve its vote share like never before.
Sir more of Karnataka news should cover Kerala sabrimala and some Indian news articles. Good to read your blogs
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