Political punters do it. Now the newly formed Bangalore pressure group, Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), too can probably claim it can sniff out winners — or at least good runners-up.
Five of the 14 candidates the B.PAC rooted for have triumphed in the political sweepstakes for Bangalore.
The rest, including independents and first-time contestants, figure in the top three to five places in their respective constituencies: these places saw 10 to 12-cornered fights. It will be interesting to see how the group will engage its protagonists.
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The task seems cut out for the five winners — Krishna Byre Gowda (Congress—Byatarayanapura); Dinesh Gundu Rao (Congress — Gandhi Nagar); S. Suresh Kumar (BJP – Rajajinagar); B.N. Vijaykumar (BJP – Jayanagar) and Ashwathnarayana C.N. (BJP –Malleswaram).
B.PAC, whose agenda is to improve Bangalore’s infrastructure, had expressed its conditional support — and partial finance — to 14 contestants from 12 constituencies regardless of their party affiliation. It said it had picked people with a clean record who would also work towards its vision for Bangalore.
Two Lok Satta Party candidates — Ashwin Mahesh and Meenakshi Bharath — polled the third highest number of votes in their respective constituencies, holding their own against party-backed warhorses.
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They lost
B.PAC had also endorsed B.K. Chandrashekar (Basavangudi), Tejasvini Gowda (Bangalore South) and N.L. Narendra Babu (Mahalakshmi Layout) — who all lost.