BENGALURU:
Karnataka's capital may have proved its reputation of housing indifferent voters with just over half turning out on May 12, but it returned
Congress to 13 of the city's 28 seats. The party maintained its tally in the city even as it lost several seats across the state.
Eleven seats went to BJP and two to JD(S). The BJP count has dropped by one, while JD(S) gained one seat.
Bengaluru re-elected Congress' K J George, Roshan Baig and NA Haris, who Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said "were defaming Bengaluru" and BJP national president Amit Shah had pledged to rid the city of.
Shah had said: "Law and order has been abysmal and
Siddaramaiah has surrendered to the troika of (KJ) George, (NA) Haris and Roshan Baig, and has handed over Bengaluru to them. Those three may be contesting on three seats but for us, they are present on all 224 as the symbol of lawlessness."
On Tuesday, Baig, who was elected for a third consecutive term from Shivajinagar in the heart of the city, told TOI: "We respect the position of prime minister, and it was unbecoming of Modi to take names of public representatives without any basis. Our victory shows how the people rejected the PM's claim."
Baig has been an MLA from Bengaluru seven times, while it is the third time that Haris and George are returning to power. Other repeat winners include Congress' Ramalinga Reddy, who has never lost since 1989, Krishna Byre Gowda who has managed a hat-trick in Byatarayanapura, and BJP's R Ashoka, a six-time winner.
"It is a clear indication that all three parties didn't want to take any risk. They trusted their tested faces and it seems to have paid off yet again," L Vasudevamurthy, a political analyst, said. Political observer N K Mohan Ram, said: "Roadshows by
Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah in the last phase helped. Congress' infrastructure projects for the city helped them retain some seats."