The BJP suffered a debacle in Chikkamgaluru as all five seats have been won by the Congress. In the last elections held in 2018, the BJP won four of five seats, while Congress won one. This time, including BJP’s national general secretary C.T. Ravi, all candidates suffered defeat.
Congress party leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi had campaigned in the district. During their visits to the district, they recalled their grandmother and former PM Indira Gandhi’s contest in a by-election in 1978 in Chikkamagaluru.
Mr. Ravi, who was elected to the State Assembly four times since 2004 continuously, has been defeated by his former associate H.D. Thammaiah, who joined the Congress just a few days before the elections. Mr. Thammaiah, a Lingayat, succeeded to win the confidence of Congress leaders, including those who were against his candidature.
Chikkamagaluru has been a bastion of the BJP since 2004. The party improved its strength in the district along with the movement for declaring the shrine of Guru Dattatreya Bababudan Swamy Dargah atop Bababudangiri, a Hindu place of worship. Hindu priests were appointed and religious programmes were also held during Datta Jayanti celebrations last year. However, the party suffered a jolt within a few months later.
Nayana Motamma, daughter of senior Congress leader Motamma, won from Mudigere constituency against BJP candidate Deepak Doddaiah, in her first election. G.H. Srinivas has won Tarikere seat, defeating D.S. Suresh of the BJP. K.S. Anand won Kadur, defeating Belli Prakash of BJP and Y.S.V. Datta of JD(S). Mr. Datta joined the Congress earlier this year hoping to get the Congress ticket. As the party denied him the ticket, he returned to the JD(S) and contested.
Sringeri witnessed a tough fight between T.D. Raje Gowda of the Congress and former Minister D.N. Jeevaraj of the BJP. Mr. Raje Gowda won with a thin margin.
