Congress wins Karnataka legislative council polls

BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah closed the year by posting a massive victory for his party in the legislative council polls results on Wednesday, with the Congress winning 12 seats, leaving the BJP far behind with 5, JD(S) and Independents one seat each in the 19 of the total 25 seats from the local authorities constituencies' declared so far.
Counting is in progress for the remaining six constituencies which include Tumakuru and Mandya. Counting of votes was taken up 1.45 pm in both these constituencies due to delay in bundling of the ballot papers.
The results were a huge setback to the BJP, which is facing its second major poll defeat in five months in Karnataka after the BBMP elections in August. BJP leaders had high hopes of encashing on the rebellion in the Congress following the tickets distribution for these polls. In fact, opposition leader in the legislative council K S Eshwarappa had announced he would resign from public life, if the Congress bagged one seat more than his party in the polls.
Interestingly, the BJP lost in Shivamogga, which is represented by former CM B S Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa. The former was planning to make a comeback to state politics after these polls. The surprise victory in Shivamogga was of JD(S) candidate H N Niranjan.
Former PM H D Deve Gowda’s party JD(S), which is facing dissent from the second line leadership had some surprises. The party lost the seat in Gowda’s home district Hassan to the Congress. The party's solace was its victory in Kolar. The political rivarly between Kolar MP K H Muniyappa, whose candidate Anil Kumar was given the ticket at the last minute with neighbouring Chikballapur MP M Veerappa Moily cost the party the seat which it had held.
However, Congress rebels in Bengaluru urban Dayanand Reddy and in Dakshina Kannada former MP K Jayaprakash Hegde and Harikrishna Bantwal failed to make any impact. All the three were expelled from the party after they chose to continue to be in the fray.