The ruling BJP maintained its winning streak in the biennial elections held for four vacant seats of the Legislative Council, bagging three seats on Tuesday, while the JD(S) was leading in South East graduates’ constituency.
Elections were held to four constituencies on October 28.
Teachers’ constituencies
The BJP emerged victorious in both the teachers’ constituencies. In Bengaluru teachers’ constituency, the BJP candidate, Puttanna, won in the first preference of votes. Lawyer and JD(S) candidate A.P. Ranganath and Congress candidate Praveen Peter were the others in the fray.
Former Council deputy chairman Mr. Puttanna, who had won the elections thrice earlier on JD(S) ticket, left the party after he fell out with former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and joined the BJP. The constituency is spread over 36 Assembly seats of Bengaluru Urban, Rural and Ramanagaram districts.
The campaign in this constituency was reduced to a fight between the family of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr. Puttanna, as the latter was once loyal to Mr. Gowda.
In the North East teachers’ constituency, Shashil G. Namoshi of the BJP defeated his nearest rival, Sharanappa Mattur of the Congress, by a margin of 3,130 votes. Mr. Namoshi polled 10,212 votes, while Mr. Mattur secured 7,082 votes. Timmayya Purle of the JD(S) obtained 983 votes. The constituency is spread over 42 Assembly seats in six districts of Kalyana Karnataka — Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Koppal, Raichur, and Ballari.
Graduates’ constituencies
In the election to the West graduates’ constituency, the BJP retained the seat and its candidate S.V. Sankanur defeated his nearest rival, R.M. Kuberappa of the Congress, by a margin of 11,409 votes.
Mr. Sankanur polled 23,857 votes, while Mr. Kuberappa bagged 12,448 votes. Independent candidate Basavaraj Gurikar, who was supported by the JD(S), was a distant third, securing 6,188 votes. A total of 52,068 votes were cast, and 8,772 were declared invalid. This constituency is spread over 23 Assembly seats in Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Gadag, and Haveri districts.
In South East graduates’ constituency, Chowdreddy Thopalli of the JD(S) was leading when the second preference counting was on till late into the night. Ramesh Babu of the Congress and Chidananda Gowda of the BJP are the two other major contenders in this constituency.
With victory in three constituencies, the BJP increased its strength to 30 in the 75-member Upper House. The Congress has 28 members and the JD(S) 14, leaving one Independent member and one chairman.
