MYSURU
In the border district of Chamarajnagar, the Congress achieved an impressive victory in three out of four seats. The BJP has been wiped off from the district following the defeat of its lone MLA in Gundlupet.
Interestingly, the Karnataka leg of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra began from the district in Gundlupet. The Yatra gave a new hope to the party cadre in the district. The party retained its seat in Chamarajanagar and wrested Kollegal and Gundlupet seats but lost in Hanur.
Chamarajanagar
Housing Minister and BJP candidate V. Somanna suffered a defeat at the hands of C. Puttarangashetty of the Congress in Chamarajanagar from where Mr. Puttarangashetty has been winning since the last three elections. Mr. Puttarangashetty, who polled 83,858 votes, defeated Mr. Somanna, who secured 76,325 votes, by a margin of 7,533 votes.
Entering the fray on a development agenda, Mr. Somanna, who shifted his political base to the border district from Govindarajnagar in Bengaluru, was hoping to sway the voters but failed as the Congress candidate was upbeat of his win being a home-grown leader and closer to the people. Mr. Somanna, who was the Minister in charge of Chamarajanagar district, was described as an ‘outsider’ by his rivals.
Though Mr. Somanna contested in Chamarajanagar, the larger focus was on his contest in Varuna where former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was contesting his last election. The BJP fielded Mr. Somanna in two seats but its strategy was rejected by the voters as he was hammered in Varuna too. BSP candidate H.R. Mahesh secured 6,373 votes.
Kollegal
Former Minister N. Mahesh lost the keenly-fought battle to A.R. Krishnamurthy of the Congress. Mr. Mahesh, who won on the BSP ticket in 2018, contested on the BJP ticket. People at last supported Mr. Krishnamurthy, who was losing all the elections he contested. He got the lead in all rounds of counting this time. In the end, it was a massive victory for Mr. Krishnamurthy, who won by a margin of 59,519 votes, securing 1,08,363 votes over Mr. Mahesh, who polled 48,844 votes. Mr. Krishnamurthy’s loss by one vote to late R. Dhruvanarayan in erstwhile Santhemarahalli constituency is well-known in Karnataka’s political history. It was a kind of a prestige battle for Mr. Krishnamurthy.
Gundlupet
H.M. Ganesh Prasad, son of former Minister H.S. Mahadeva Prasad, comfortably won his electoral debut against sitting BJP MLA Niranjan Kumar, by a margin of 36,675 votes. Mr. Prasad’s mother had won the by-election after the demise of Mr. Mahadeva Prasad but lost the 2018 election to Mr. Kumar. Mr. Ganesh Prasad polled a mammoth 1,07,794 votes while Mr. Kumar secured 71,119 votes. With Mr. Kumar’s defeat, the party lost its base in the district.
Hanur
It was a big victory for JD(S) candidate M.R. Manjunath in Hanur, which saw a triangular contest. Sitting MLA R. Narendra of the Congress was confident of his victory while former Minister late H. Nagappa’s son Preethan of BJP was hoping to sway voters in his favour. The same trio was locked in a high-voltage battle in the 2018 election too. Mr. Manjunath won by a margin of 17,654 votes, polling 75,632 votes over Mr. Narendra who secured 57,978 votes and Dr. Prithan polled 35,870 votes. Politics in Hanur is dominated by two families – those of the late G. Raju Gowda and late H. Nagappa.
