HDK's son Nikhil Loses Channapatna Bypoll in Ramnagar

The by-poll to Channapatna Assembly seat was held following the resignation of H.D. Kumaraswamy as its MLA. Kumaraswamy was elected to Lok Sabha from Mandya seat in 2024 and he resigned as MLA of Channapatna which he had won in 2023 and in the 2018 Assembly election.

In Channapatna by-poll fray, Nikhil contested on Janata Dal Secular symbol and polled 87, 229 votes while C.P. Yogeshwar secured 1, 12, 642 votes in the counting. Voting to Channapatna by-poll was held on November 13 and Channapatna recorded a voting percentage of 88.08 percent.

With the defeat in Channapatna, Nikhil suffered third straight loss in electoral politics since his plunge into electoral politics in 2019. Significantly, Nikhil lost all his elections in seats where his party-Janata Dal Secular (JDS) has a strong base.

Plunging into electoral politics, Nikhil contested the Mandya Lok Sabha election in 2019 as JDS-Congress nominee and lost to independent nominee Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late cine actor Ambareesh. In 2019, JDS and Congress were in alliance in Karnataka.

Trying his luck in the Assembly poll, Nikhil entered the Ramanagar Assembly seat as JDS nominee in 2023 and lost to Congress nominee Iqbal Hussain. Ramnagar was earlier represented by his father H.D. Kumaraswamy and his grandfather and former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda.

Nikhil’s mother Anitha Kumaraswamy was defeated in Channapatna Assembly election in 2013. She lost to Samajwadi Party nominee C.P. Yogeshwar. Later, H.D. Kumaraswamy avenged his wife’s defeat in Channapatna and trounced C.P. Yogeshwar of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2018 and 2023 Assembly elections.

After the defeat, Nikhil told reporters, in an oblique reference to Muslim voters, his grandfather provided reservation for a particular community and stood by that particular community but they have not voted for the party.

Nikhil said he was undeterred by the defeat in Channapatna and his JDS is born to fight for the people and observed JDS has seen ups and downs.

Winning nominee C.P. Yogeshwar said he expected victory by a margin of about 30,000 votes but will settle for a victory margin of 26,000 votes.

Taking a dig at Nikhil’s grandfather and former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda, Yogeshwar said voters of Channapatna rejected Devegowda since the former Prime Minister campaign was ‘selfish’ only to make his grandson win the by-poll.

CAPTION--- Congress nominee C.P. Yogeshwar (second from left) flanked by Congress leaders after he was declared winner in Channapatna by-poll.