BJP gains in Chikkamagaluru, JD(S) draws blank

Chikkamagaluru: In the Bharatiya Janata Party bastion, Chikkamagaluru, the party won four seats out of five which is a gain by two seats when compared with the results of 2013 polls. In 2013, BJP had won in Chikkamagaluru and Sringeri seats. 

Janata Dal (Secular) which had two seats in 2013 elections winning Mudigere, a reserved seat for Scheduled Castes, and Kadur assembly segment, lost both seats in 2018. 

Congress, which had previously won Tarikere seat and lost in 2018, managed to win Sringeri seat against three-time BJP MLA and former minister D.N. Jeevaraj. 

In Sringeri, Congress nominee T.D. Rajegowda won a close contest against Jeevaraj and romped home by a margin of 2013 votes. 

Rajegowda polled 62,469 votes against Jeevaraj’s vote tally of 60,456. 

Former minister and BJP nominee C.T. Ravi, who was contesting Chikkamagaluru seat, a three-cornered fight between BJP, Congress and JD(S) nominees,  defeated his nearest rival Congress nominee and former minister B.L. Shankar by a huge margin of 25,716 votes. JD(S) nominee polled 37,988 votes. It was the fourth straight win for Ravi in the constituency. 

In JD(S)-represented Kadur seat, a triangular contest was witnessed, with its sitting MLA Y.S.V. Datta defeated by BJP’s Belli Prakash by a margin of 15,372 votes. Datta polled 46,860 votes and Belli Prakash got 62,232 votes. Congress nominee K.S. Anand secured 46,142 votes. In the previous poll, Datta had won the seat by a margin of 42,000 votes. 

In another triangular contest in Mudigere, a reserved seat for SCs, the BJP’s two-time MLA MP Kumaraswamy defeated his nearest rival Congress nominee and former minister Motamma by a margin of 12, 512 votes. Here, sitting MLA and former minister B.B. Ningaiah finished third polling 22,063 votes.