The ruling Congress in Karnataka swept both seats in the bypolls to Nanjangud and Gundlupet assembly constituencies. The bypoll, which had turned into a battle for prestige between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa, saw a fortnight of high-decibel campaign that culminated in a record turnout of 77.56 per cent and 87.10 per cent, respectively.
On Thursday, Siddaramaiah had the last laugh as he had managed to retain both seats in his backyard—Mysuru region while, the BJP claimed it was happy to have made inroads into a new territory—traditional Congress bastions, ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections in the state.
The bypoll was necessitated after the Gundlupet seat fell vacant following the demise of sitting MLA and cooperation minister H.S. Mahadevaprasad, while Nanjangud seat was vacated by sitting MLA and former revenue minister V. Srinivasprasad, who quit Congress in protest after he was dropped from the Siddaramaiah cabinet and joined the BJP.
The Congress retained both the seats with Geeta Mahadevaprasad, a political novice and widow of H.S Mahadevaprasad bagging 90,258 votes against BJP's Niranjan Kumar (79,381 votes) in Gundlupet to secure victory by a margin of 10,877 votes. Kalale Keshavamurthy (86,212 votes) defeated veteran Dalit leader and former revenue minister V. Srinivas Prasad (64,878) in Nanjangud by 21,334 votes.
Even as the bypoll result appears to be a referendum to the upcoming 2018 Assembly elections in the state, a closer look at the voteshare of both parties, however, hint otherwise. Both the parties have increased their voteshare in both the seats compared with the 2013 assembly polls owing to the JD(S) withdrawing from the fray. A triangular fight ended up as a straight fight between the two national parties.
A regional party, JD(S), abstaining from contesting both the bypolls is being read as tacit support to the Congress and also hints at a possibility of a grand alliance of secular parties in the next Assembly polls.
This poll was also seen as a litmus test for both the parties. The polarisation of the votes in Nanjangud, which has sizeable population of Dalits, while Gundlupet with the decisive chunk of Lingayat votes have shown unexpected sway towards the Congress, despite the disgruntled Dalit leader Srinivas Prasad and the Lingayat strongman Yeddyurappa spearheading the BJP campaign.
“It is not setback for the BJP. It has always been a norm for the ruling party to have an edge in any bypoll. But it is not a referendum on future elections," said Yeddyurappa. "This time, we know how the entire machinery was at work. We respect the mandate of the people. It was new constituencies for the BJP and we are happy with our performance. But I had not anticipated defeat of a veteran leader like Srinivas Prasad.”
On winning the seat, Geeta said, “My husband's good work has paid off. It is not a vote on just compassionate grounds. The voters have outrighly rejected the BJP, which badmouthed me all through the campaign. A Indian woman is respected, but I had to constantly face taunts by my opponents. I will now prove my abilities as a leader.”
Geeta will only be the second woman MLA to represent the constituency, after former speaker Nagarathnamma.
“The Congress has bribed the voters in a big way. JD(S) has merged with the Congress to fight the BJP and has lost its identiy,” alleged Srinivas Prasad, adding the Congress had also raked up a highly sensitive issue like the decades-old Badanavalu clashes between Lingayats and Dalits in Nanjangud to polarise the voters.
It was a surprise win for Kalale Keshavamurthy, who defeated Prasad, two-time MLA and five-time MP. Kalale had contested on a JD(S) ticket in the 2013 Assembly polls and lost to Prasad. But once Srinivas Prasad quit Congress, Kalale jumped ship to Congress to take on the former revenue minister in the bypolls.
Kalale was backed by a battalion of more than 14 sitting ministers led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who held rallies and road shows in the assembly constituency. It was Congress' answer to the challenge thrown at them by Srinivas Prasad, once a good friend of Siddaramaiah.
BJP candidate in Gundlupet Niranjan Kumar, who lost the seat despite the strong backing of top BJP leaders like Yeddyurappa, R Ashok, K.S. Eshwarappa, central ministers Ananthkumar, Sadananda Gowda and MP Pratap Simha, who led the BJP campaign, turned third-time unlucky.
KPCC chief and home minister G Parameshwara attributed the victory to the hardwork of the ministers and MLAs.
