Karnataka bypolls: Congress storms JDS bastion, wins two LS seats

Bangalore, Aug 24: Storming the JDS bastion, the ruling Congress in Karnataka today won the Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seats with impressive margins.

Multi-lingual actress Ramya, making her electoral debut, trounced JDS' C S Puttaraju in Mandya by a margin of 67,611 votes, officials said.

In Bangalore Rural, D K Suresh (Cong) registered an impressive victory bagging the seat with a margin of around 1,37,000 votes against his opponent JDS' Anitha Kumaraswamy, wife of former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. The seat was held by Kumaraswamy who resigned it after becoming an MLA in the May Assembly polls.

The Congress, which marked 100th day of its rule early this week, has wrested both the seats from JDS from its bastion in the Vokkaliga belt.

Both Ramya and Suresh maintained convincing leads right from the beginning as the counting of votes for the by-polls held on August 21 was taken up this morning and gradually increased the lead to unassailable levels.

Congress and JDS had fought bitterly in the run-up to the election, making it a no-holds-barred attack against each other.

BJP, which lost power in Assembly polls and does not count for much in the region, had backed JDS candidates in the two segments, which the Congress had dubbed "an unholy alliance."

The by-poll to Mandya was necessitated following the resignation of N Cheluvarayaswamy after he became MLA.

Suresh is the brother of senior Congress leader and MLA D K Shivakumar.

JDS had won five of the eight Assembly seats in Mandya district in the May elections.

In Bangalore Rural, where Kumaraswamy had won by 1.3 lakh votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Congress had secured the support of Samajwadi Party MLA, C P Yogeeshwara, who had defeated Anita Kumaraswamy in the May polls.

Earlier report

Bangalore, Aug 24: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah won the acid test in the LokSabhabypolls with both Congress candidates winning Bangalore Rural and Mandya seats by a huge margin in these constituencies, which were the JD(S) fiefdom.

The results declared on Saturday are a huge boost to the four-month old Congress party in Karnataka as they have the set the trend for the Lok Sabha elections eight months from now. Both the seats were won by political greenhorns, who have made their electoral debut with a leap to the parliament.

Kannada actor Ramya won from Mandya and senior Congress MLA DK Shiva Kumar's brother DK Suresh Kumar from Bangalore Rural. Both the seats were held by the JD(S) with Bangalore Rural won by former CM H D Kumaraswamy in 2009. The bypolls were held following the resignation of Kumaraswamy and JD(S) N Cheluvaraswamy from Mandya after they got elected to the legislative assembly in May.

Ramya defeated JD(S) CS Puttaraju by a margin of 47,000 plus votes and Suresh Kumar trounced Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha by over a lakh votes.

The bypolls were crucial to both the Congress and JD(S). For the first time all opposition parties giving a go-by to their ideologies came together to put up a common candidate against the Congress in both constituencies. But the results revealed that voters have once again punished the JD(S) for teaming up with the BJP. The earlier instance was the 2008 assembly polls.

The results are a big blow to the Deve Gowda family, more so to senior Gowda, who at the age of 81 years, pounded the streets of Bangalore Rural and Mandya seeking votes for his daughter-in-law and shedding tears at public meetings. Anitha, who has been a reluctant candidate to politics, had still not come out of her defeat from Channaptna assembly polls in May, when she was fielded in this bypoll.

The 30-year-old actor Ramya, who was a last minute surprise candidate, in a way brought the feuding Congress leaders in Mandya to unite at least for the bypoll. Former CM S M Krishna and actor, housing minister MH Ambareesh, who don't see eye to eye campaigned for Ramya, of course without sharing a common platform. Getting Ramya elected had become vital for the Mandya Congress unit, if it had to stake claim in appointments of chairpersons to the boards and corporations to be made shortly.

In Bangalore Rural, the victory has made Shiva Kumar, the second rung leader in the Vokkaliga community, strong to stake claim for a minister's post in the cabinet. He has been kept out of the cabinet following his alleged involvement in illegal mining. There are four vacancies to be filled in the cabinet and Siddaramaiah is under tremendous pressure to complete the exercise.

The BJP and former CM BS Yeddyurappa's KJP prospects after these bypolls are under a cloud. The outcome has also indicated that minorities in Channapatna and Ramanagaram (Kumaraswamy's constituency) have rejected the JD(S) for its alliance with the BJP, while in Mandya, a beleaguered Ambareesh has got a breather with the victory.

Earlier report:

Bangalore, Aug 24: The bypolls were held on August 21.There are 9 candidates contesting from Mandya and 13 from Bangalore Rural. But it is a straight fight between Congress and JD (S) candidates.

11:40 am: Ramya also wins. Counting still on. But no chance of JD(S) to catch up. Will she go on to build a political career? Or, like many other stars, will she win and do a vanishing act?

11.30 am: Ramya leads by nearly 50,000 votes. Counting still on in Bangalore Rural. But JD(S) has no chance even if it gets each of the remaining votes. D K Suresh may win by over a lakh votes.

11:10 am: D K Suresh wins Bangalore Rural. Ramya is leading by over 40,000 votes. She is close to netting Mandya. It is 2:0 for Congress. Big performance by Congress.

10: 45 am: Have Bangalore Rural voters gone against JD (S)’s family obsessed politics? Or, have they been swayed by D K brothers superior resources. Both of them face serious allegations. The support of SP MLA Yogeeshwara also helped a great deal. You cannot accuse him of any stellar reputation.

It is no longer, may the best man win. The winner is bigger, not better.

10:30 am: D K Suresh leads by over 70,000 votes at the end of the eighth round of counting. This increasingly looks like a winning margin.

10:00 am: A small controversy erupts in Mandya. JD(S) candidate Puttaraju alleges that poll officials are counting votes from Congress strongholds first. Why would they do it? To create an impression that Ramya is leading, he says. He warns all officials that they will be made to repent for their bias.

In the meanwhile, Ramya leads by nearly 20,000 votes.

9:45 am: Congress lead slowly lengthening. D K Suresh leads by almost 30,000 votes now in Bangalroe Rural. If he wins, what will be the reward for his brother D K Shivakumar, who has been kept out of the cabinet as he is allegedly ‘tainted’. The race is closer in Mandya, but Ramya hangs on to her lead.

9:30 am: Congress leading by over 10,000 votes in both places. If these trends hold good, it would be a knockout punch for JD(S). Will it drive JD(S) to get close to BJP?

9: 07 am: Three rounds of counting over in Bangalore Rural. Anita Kumaraswamy is facing the odds here, she is trailing D K Suresh by 6,441 votes. She also lost the Assembly election from Channapatna.

8: 43 am: We don’t have numbers to share from Bangalore Rural. But JD (S) family member Anita Kumaraswamy trailing.

8: 37 am: First round of counting ends in Mandya. If you are a Ramya fan, good news. She has overtaken Puttaraju in the filmi style, as a colleague here notes. She is leading by 1,446 votes.

8:20 am: Early trends show JD(S) leading in Mandya and Congress in Bangalore Rural. But it is a long way to go.

8 am: The counting begins. Results should be out by afternoon.

7: 56 am: Election officials have opened the ‘strong room’ where the electronic voting machines are kept. Security is exceptionally tight. Everyone is edgy. It is good to go.

7:55 am: Lastly, you couldn’t have asked for a better cast to make these polls exciting. Popular actress Ramya is taking on former MLA Puttaraju in Mandya. In Bangalore Rural it is D K Suresh, brother of Congress muscleman D K Shiva Kumar Vs Anita Kumaraswamy.

7:50 am: There is also an intense personal element in these polls. The political war between the JD(S) first family and CM Siddarmaiah continues to rage.

7:46 am: These bypolls have raised the political temperature. BJP and JD (S) have come together to take on Congress, which is still in the ‘honeymoon period.’ For JD (S), which held these seats, it is a matter of survival. The family led by the ageing patriarch Deve Gowda has left no stone unturned to retain its bastions.

7:42 am: The counting of votes is set to begin at the government colleges in Mandya and Ramanagar.

Bangalore Rural:

Mandya: