Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah registered a comprehensive victory in Varuna Assembly constituency in Mysuru by defeating his BJP rival V. Somanna by a margin of more than 46,000 votes.
Mr. Siddaramaiah polled 60.09 per cent of the votes cast and secured 1,19,816 votes while Mr. Somanna bagged 73,653 votes, accounting for 36.94 per cent of the votes. JD(S) candidate Bharathi Shankar secured 1,034 votes while BSP’s Krishnamurthy M. polled 1,075 votes.
Mr. Siddaramaiah’s victory paves the way for his ninth entry into the portals of the Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Siddaramaiah began his electoral career from Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency in 1983 and began contesting from Varuna when the constituency was carved out of it in 2008 after delimitation. After winning from Varuna twice – 2008 and 2013 – he left the constituency for his son Yathindra and shifted to Chamundeshwari again in 2018 only to be defeated by JD(S) candidate G.T. Deve Gowda.
He returned to Varuna for 2023 elections and declared that it would be last elections though he would continue in politics. The margin of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s victory was 46,163 and higher than his earlier margins of victory in 2008 and 2013 - 18,837 and 29,641 respectively.
The run-up to the elections had witnessed high-voltage electioneering with the BJP making all out efforts to achieve Mr. Somanna’s victory, but in vain.
