Setback for BJP in council polls, wins 12 seats, 11 seats for Congress, one for JD(S)
Biennial elections to Legislative Council has jolted BJP expectation, party has openly stated that it will easily win 15 seats out of 25 and mocked at Congress. On the other hand, more than its expectation, Congress has won 11 seats. With the winning of one seat, JD(S) base has been further weakened in the old mysuru region. Earlier it has five seats in old Mysuru region, but lost four seats in this elections.
Bengaluru: Ruling BJP has received a huge setback in the much-hyped Legislative Council polls with winning 12 seats, opposition Congress has given a tough fight to the saffron party, wins 11 seats and JD(S) has won one seat. Independent candidate Lakhan Jarakiholi won from Belagavi local bodies constituency.
Elections were held to 25 seats from local bodies to the Legislative Council in biennial elections on December 10.
Elections results interpreted as a huge embarrassment to the ruling BJP, the party has confidently said that it will win 15 seats. On the other hand, Congress did an impressive performance, surprisingly it has won 11 seats, more than the expectations of party leaders.
By winning Hassan seat, Dr. Suraj Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda and son of former minister H.D. Revanna, enters the Upper House.
With Suraj’s win, all members of the Devegowda family are members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
H.D.Devegowda is a current member of Rajya Sabha, his grandson, Prajwal Revanna is a Lok Sabha member from Hassan constituency, H.D. Kumaraswamy, his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy and H.D. Revanna are the members of the Legislative Assembly. Now, Mr. Suraj enters the Upper House. In fact his mother, Bhavani Revanna earlier represented Hassan Zilla Panchayat.
As per earlier trends, out of 25 seats, 24 seat results are declared and both BJP and JD(S) alliance retained majority in the 75-members Legislative Council.
BJP candidate, Social Welfare Minister and floor leader in Legislative Council, Kota Srinivasa Poojari won from Dhakshina Kannada local bodies. Siting member and BJP candidate M.K. Pranesh retained his seat from the Chikamagaluru constituency by six votes from his nearest rival, Congress candidate Gayathri Shantegowda. BJP candidate, D.S. Arun, son of D.H. Shankarmurthy, former Chairman of Legislative Council, D.H. Shankarmurthy.
BJP candidates, H.S. Gopinath Reddy from Bengaluru Urban, Suja Kushalapp from Madikeri, D.S. Arun from Shivamogga, Y.M. Satish from Bellary, Naveen K.S. from Chitradurga, Ganapathi Ulvekar from Uttara Kannada, Kota Srinivasa Poojari from Dhakshina Kannada, M.K. Pranesh from Chikamgaluru, Pradeep Shatter from Hubballi-Dharwad twin constituencies.
Congress has won 10 seats. S. Ravi from Bengaluru Rural constituency, Chennaraj Hattiholi from Belagavi constituency, Sharanagowda Byapura from Raichuru, Bhimarao Patil, Bidar, M.L. Anil Kumar, Kolar, Saleem Ahemmad from Hubballi-Dharwad, Manjunath Bhandari- Dhakshina Kannada, Sunil Gowda Patil- Vijaypura-Bagalkote. Dr. T.H. Thimmegowda from Mysuru gets leads in the elections. Dinesh Gooligowda won from the Mandya constituency.
Jarakiholi brothers give shock to BJP:
More shocking results came from the Belagavi twin constituencies. BJP has received a jolt as its official candidate Mahantesh Kawatigmatt pushed to third place. Here Congress candidate, Chennaraj Hattiholi and Independent candidate Lakhan Jarakiholi lead. Here, BJP rebel MLA, Ramesh Jarakiholi fielded his brother Lakhan as an independent candidate following the party denied ticket to his brother. Congress has fielded party MLP, Lakshmi Hebbalkar brother, Chennaraj Hattiholi. Party leaders have taken election as a prestigious battle and fight unitedly. To teach a fitting lesson to the party, Mr. Ramesh Jarakiholi fielded his brother Lakhan.
