BJP sweeps 3 districts

Bangalore, May 25 (UNI) It was a clean sweep for the BJP in at least three districts, as it improved its position further in Northern Karnataka in the Assembly elections even as the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) managed to retain their traditional strongholds in some districts.

Winning 110 seats, the BJP gained all the seats in the districts of Bagalkot (seven), Gadag (four) and Kodagu (two) and won a lion's share in Belgaum (nine out of 18), Bijapur (5/8), Dharwad (6/7), and Bellary where the mine owners called the shots (8/9).

Even in Urban Bangalore out of the 28 seats, the BJP emerged victorious in 17, followed by the Congress ten and the JD(S) one.

In Bangalore Rural out of the four seats, both Congress and JD(S) shared two seats each.

The BJP drew a poor two out of 11 in Mysore district and could not muster even a single seat in the districts of Hassan, Mandya, Ramnagara, Chikballapur and Chamarajnagar.

The Congress swept all the four seats in Chamarajnagar district, secured eight out of 11 in Mysore, four out of five in Chikballapur and fared poorly in most of the districts having a token one or two representation.

For the JD(S), the bulk of its tally came from Hassan (five out of seven) and Mandya (four out of seven). In several districts, it drew a blank.

Independents won in Chitradurga (two), Koppal, Tumkur, Kolar and Mandya (one each).

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