Karnataka By-election 2018 Results Live News Updates: Congress, JD(S) Win One Assembly Seat Each; BJP Wins Shivamogga

A total of 1,248 counting staff have been deployed at five centres (one each in five constituencies), for the counting, which will commence from 8 AM.

New Delhi: The counting of votes for three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies in Karnataka came as a big shocker for the BJP as allies Congress and JD(S) took an unassailable lead on the former on four of the five seats.

As per latest reports, Congress candidate Anand Nyamagouda won the Jamkhandi Assembly seat and JD(S) candidate Anitha Kumaraswsamy has won the Ramanagara Assembly seat.

BJP’s BY Raghvendra, son of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, bagged the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat — the only good news for the saffron party which faced a series on the Congress-JD(S) alliance’s hands on the rest four seats.

The Lok Sabha constituencies which went for polls were Ballari, Shivamogga and Mandya while the Assembly by-elections were held in Ramanagara and Jamkhandi. As per initial trends,  the BJP is leading in Shivamogga with nearly 11,000 votes, while the Congress is leading in Bellary its ally JD(S) is ahead in Mandya.

An estimated 67 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the bypolls for five constituencies. A total of 31 candidates were in the fray from all the five constituencies, though the contest is mainly between the Congress-JD(S) combine and the BJP.

The by-elections were necessitated after Yeddyurappa (Shivamogga) and Sriramalu (Ballari), and C S Puttaraju of JD(S) (Mandya) resigned as MPs on their election to the Assembly in May this year. Bypolls to Jamkhandi Assembly seat was caused by the death of Congress MLA Siddu Nyamagouda, while Ramanagara fell vacant after Kumaraswamy gave up the seat, preferring Chennapatna, the other constituency from where he had won.

The results will determine the fate of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s wife Anita Kumaraswamy, state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra and former chief minister S Bangarappa’s son Madhu Bangarappa and others. Anita Kumaraswamy is expected to have a smooth sailing in Ramanagara, the seat vacated by her husband, after BJP nominee L Chandrashekhar withdrew from the contest and rejoined the Congress.

In Jamkhandi, it remains to be seen whether Congress’ Anand Nyamagowda will be able to make his successful electoral debut, riding on the sympathy wave due to death of his father and former MLA Siddu Nyamagouda, by defeating Srikant Kulkarni of the BJP.

While in Shivamogga, Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra is testing his fortunes against another former chief minister S Bangarappa’s son Madhu Bangarappa of the JD(S); in Ballari (Bellary), senior BJP leader Sriramulu’s sister J Shantha is fighting against V S Ugrappa of the Congress, considered an outsider.

In the Vokkaliga bastion of Mandya, JD(S)’s Shivarame Gowda, is pitted against a fresh face in Dr Siddaramaiah, a retired Commercial Tax officer from the BJP.

The outcome of the bypolls is expected to have a bearing on the equations between the Congress and JD(S) for the 2019 polls and also be a factor in determining the respective bargaining power of the two parties. The bypolls were seen as significant as the coalition partners contested together, terming it as a “prelude” to the May 2019 General Elections and called for a similar “grand secular alliance” against the BJP at the national level.

Congress and JD(S) had fought bitterly against each other in the Assembly polls, especially in the old Mysuru region, but had joined hands to form a coalition government after a fractured mandate in the May Assembly polls.