Karnataka Elections 2023: Big Winners and Losers

Opposition Congress on Saturday seemed to be on course to breach rival BJP's lone southern citadel Karnataka, racing ahead towards the magic 113 figure to form a government on its own.

The opposition party marched ahead establishing a lead in 112 constituencies, while the BJP was leading in 74 segments, the latest Election Commission (EC) trends of counting of votes polled in the Karnataka Assembly elections showed.

Even as the counting is on, here we bring you the list of big candidates who are leading and trailing in key constituencies.

At least 14 ministers from the BJP has lost in 2023 polls.

V Somanna, who is the current Minister of the Housing and Infrastructure Development department of Karnataka, has lost from both Varuna against Congress CM candidate Siddaramaiah and Chamrajanagar against Congress' C Puttarangashetty.

Murugesh Rudrappa Nirani, who served as the Minister of Large and Medium Industries of Karnataka in the BJP government, lost to Congress' JC Patil by less than 10,000 votes in Bilgi.

Govind Muktappa Karjol, who is the current Minister of Major and Medium Irrigation, Water Resources of Karnataka, was defeated by Congress' Timmapur Ramappa Balappa.

Dr K Sudhakar, Minister of Medical Education and Health, was defeated by Congress' Pradeep Eshwar.

JC Madhuswamy, who is the current Minister of Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation and Minor Irrigation, from the BJP lost to JDS candidate CB Suresh Babu in Chikkanayakanahalli.

Agriculture Minister BC Patil is defeated by Congress candidate Ujaneshwar Basavannappa Banakar.

B Sriramulu, who served as Minister of Transport Department and Tribal Welfare of Karnataka, lost to Congress candidate B Nagendra in Bellary Rural.

MTB Nagaraj, who is the current Minister of Small Scale Industries and Municipal Administration, lost to Congress candidate Sharath Bachegowda in Hoskote.

Dr Chikkegowda Narayanagowda, who is currently serving as Minister of Sericulture, Youth empowerment and Sports, was defeated by Congress' BL Devaraja.

Halappa Achar, who is the Cabinet Minister of Mines & Geology, Minister of Women & Child Development, Disabled & Senior citizens empowerment, from the BJP has been defeated by Congress candidate in Yalaburga.

Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, who is the Minister of Textiles & Sugarcane in the BJP government, lost to Congress candidate Ninharaddi Hanamaraddi Konaraddi.

Siddharth Singh aka Anand Prithviraj Singh, who is currently serving as Minister of Tourism, Ecology and Environment of Karnataka, lost to Congress candidate HR Gaviyappa in the Vijayanagara constituency.

Varuna

Siddaramaiah is leading by over 16,000 votes against BJP candidate V Somanna. This seat falls under the Chamarajanagar Parliamentary seat, which was won by the BJP's V Srinivas Prasad in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Varuna is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah. Siddaramaiah had earlier won the seat twice from Varuna and even went on to become the Chief Minister after winning the seat in 2013.

However, he vacated the seat for his son Yathindra in 2018.

Shikaripura

BJP candidate Vijayendra Yediyurappa is leading from this constituency by 8,000 seats against his nearest rival and independent candidate SP Nagarajagowda.

Vijayendra's father Yediyurappa has an impressive track record on this seat and has won the elections from here on 8 occasions. In 2013, Yediyurappa had won this seat on a KJP ticket. That year, he had quit the BJP and formed his own party. However, in 2014, he returned to the BJP.

While the Congress has won the seat 5 times, it has remained a safe bastion for the BJP thanks to the presence of Yediyurappa.

Hubli Dharwad Central

Jagadish Shettar, who quit BJP and joined Congress, is trailing by over 30,000 votes against BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginakai.

Shettar had won the seat six times in a row. But this time, the central leadership decided to give the ticket to a new candidate which made the senior leader quit the saffron party with which he had associated for four decades.

Kanakapura

Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar has won the seat by over 1 lakh votes in Kanakapura Constituency.

However, this has been a stronghold of Congress and DK Shivakumar. Hence, the result has not come as a surprise.

Other Major Defeats

In the Soraba constituency, Congress candidate Madhu Bangarappa has defeated his elder brother and BJP candidate Kumar Bangarappa by over 40,000 votes.

Former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil is trailing by over 10,000 votes in Ramanagara Constituency against Congress candidate HA Iqbal Hussain.