Karnataka bypolls: BJP wins Belgaum Lok Sabha seat, Congress keeps Maski

BENGALURU: The BJP managed to retain the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat and bag the Basavakalyan Assembly constituency while the Congress retained the Maski Assembly seat in the April 17 bypolls, the results of which were declared on Sunday.

Mangala Angadi, wife of former Union Minister Suresh Angadi who succumbed to Covid-19, won the Belgaum parliamentary seat by a narrow margin of 5,240 votes in a see-saw battle as the votes were counted. The BJP had won the previous election by a margin of about 3.9 lakh votes.

Although Mangala was leading during the early rounds, Congress’ Satish Jarkiholi caught on and was leading by about 10,000 votes during the later rounds, but Mangala finally scraped through, by securing 4,36,868 votes.

10,631 NOTA votes in Belagavi seat

Interestingly, Independent candidate Shubham Vikram Shelke, who was backed by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), managed to garner 1.16 lakh votes. A total of 10,631 NOTA votes were also polled. In Maski Assembly seat in Raichur district, it was turncoat versus turncoat. The BJP candidate Prathapgouda Patil, who was previously with the Congress and switched over to BJP, lost to Basanagouda Turvihal by about 20,000 votes.

Turvihal himself had switched to Congress from BJP just before the polls were announced. He secured 86,337 votes and defeated Prathapagouda Patil by a huge margin of over 30,000 votes. The JDS had not put up a candidate here. Patil’s resignation had necessitated the bypoll. The BJP’s candidate for the Basavakalyan Assembly segment, Sharanu Salgar, won against Mala Narayana Rao, wife of deceased Congress MLA Narayana Rao, in a triangular fight where the JDS had fielded Syed Yasrab Ali Qadri. Salgar polled 71,012 votes while his nearest rival polled 50,383 votes. Narayan Rao too died last year due to Covid-19, leaving the Assembly segment vacant.