Karnataka MLC election results: Siddaramaiah passes the litmus test
Bengaluru, Dec 30: In a hard fought Karnataka MLC (Member of the Legislative Council) which were mired by allegations of luring voters with money and gifts, the Congress came out victorious.
The ruling Congress won 13 out of the 25 seats while the BJP and the JD(S) won 6 and 4 respectively. Two others were won by independents.The Congress this time bettered its tally by one when compared to the previous election in which it had won 12 seats.
Congress leaders say that they are happy with the result although they had expected three more seats. On the other hand the BJP says that it could have fared better in some areas especially at Ballari which was once its stronghold.
While Siddaramaiah can smile a little, he too would have hoped to have a few more seats. It was important for him to increase the strength of the Congress in the Upper House. The Upper House which has a total strength of 75 members and the Congress has very often been defeated on certain issues when the BJP and the JD(S) had come together. Today's result may not help the Congress too much.
Litmus
test
for
Siddaramaiah:
The
elections
were
considered
to
be
a
litmus
test
for
Siddaramaiah.
He
had
battled
rebellion
and
nominated
most
of
his
supporters.
All
those
nominated
by
Siddaramaiah
have
won
the
elections
and
this
has
ensured
that
he
passed
the
litmus
test.
The
Congress
won
Mysore
district
which
is
the
home
town
of
the
CM.
The
Congress
also
won
in
Bengaluru
city
district.
Siddaramaiah
said
that
it
was
a
mandate
for
the
Congress.
Today
was
however
not
a
particularly
happy
day
for
Congress
bigwigs
such
as
Mallikarjuna
Kharge.
In
his
home
town
of
Gulbarga,
the
BJP
candidate
won
by
a
huge
margin.
In
Veerappa
Moily's
bastion
at
Kolar
it
was
victory
for
the
JD(S).
The defeat at Ballari:
For the BJP there would be some soul searching to do in Ballari. The BJP's Channabasavva Gouda Patil lost by a margin of 1,598 votes to K C Kondaiah of the Congress. The loss at Ballari indicates clearly the fading charm of the Reddy brothers.
Since the mining issue rocked Ballari, the BJP has been on the decline. The BJP does realise that this bastion is getting away from them, but state leaders say that they will analyse the loss and ensure that they get their stronghold back.
In the Dakshin Kannada and Udupi seats, the results were on expected lines. The seats at Dakshin Kannada and Udupi were won by Kota Srinivasa Poojary of the BJP and K Pratapchandra Shetty of the Congress.
The Congress also won in Bidar, Raichur-Koppal. The Kodagu seat which was hard fought between was won by the BJP.
The BJP was also expecting to do well in Shimoga the stronghold of B S Yeddyurappa, former Chief Minister of Karnataka and BJP MP. R K Siddaramanna the sitting BJP MLC came third.
The Congress candidate, R Prasanna Kumar won this seat. The BJP campaign was hit by rebellion. Yeddyurappa was unhappy with the candidature of Siddaramanna and did not campaign as much as he should have. In Hassan the former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda suffered a set back. The JD(S) candidate lost to the Congress.
OneIndia News