BENGALURU: The BJP continued its winning streak wresting Sira and Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituencies in byelections and won three of the four legislative council seats from teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies. The election results were announced on Tuesday.
The twin victories will help chief minister BS Yediyurappa silence his detractors and put a lid on talk of a leadership change, besides pushing the party’s strength in the assembly to 119. The Congress has 67 and JD(S) 33 members; there are two vacancies in the lower house.
In RR Nagar, west Bengaluru, BJP’s N Munirathna, whose resignation from the Congress and the assembly seat necessitated the bypoll, defeated Congress greenhorn H Kusuma, wife of late former IAS officer DK Ravi, notching his third straight victory from the constituency. Despite switching the parties Munirathna extended his victory margin to 57,936 votes. Kusuma bagged 67,798 votes in her first poll outing. Munirathna is expected to land a cabinet berth promised by the chief minister during the bypoll campaign.
In Tumakaru’s Sira, BJP’s CM Rajesh Gowda, a radiologist and son of former Congress MP CP Mudalagiriyappa, pipped six-time MLA and ex-Congress minister TB Jayachandra by 12,949 votes. Gowda, who joined BJP after the bypolls were announced, has helped BJP register its first victory in Sira since 1957.
Bypolls: JD(S) loses Sira and deposit in RR Nagar
JD(S) candidate Ammajamma, wife of deceased legislator B Satyanarayana and a poll debutant, was pushed to a distant third place with 35,982 votes despite former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda leading the party campaign. In the 2018 polls, Jayachandra had lost to Satyanarayana by 10,200 votes. The wins will help Yediyurappa earn enough wiggle room to expand his cabinet, besides furthering the cause of his son BY Vijayendra, who is looking to emerge as his father’s successor in the family.
DK Shivakumar, who was looking to make an impressive start as Congress state chief with an electoral triumph, suffered a setback with the party losing Vokkaliga-majority RR Nagar and failing to win Sira. His ploy to play the caste card failed to impress the voters in RR Nagar.
The JD(S) faced the ignominy of losing Sira it had won in 2018 and losing deposit in RR Nagar despite the party’s first family plunging into campaigning in the twin seats.
In the council polls, BJP was leading in west graduates’, northeast teachers’ and Bengaluru teachers' constituencies. Counting of votes in southeast graduates’ constituency is still on. The results are expected late in the night.