The BJP won the crucial byelection to K.R. Pet Assembly segment in Mandya district on Monday, with its candidate K.C. Narayana Gowda, a disqualified MLA, defeating his closest competitor B.L. Devaraj of the JD(S) by 9,731 votes.
This is the first-ever victory for the saffron party in Mandya. The party had not won any Assembly or Lok Sabha election in the district previously.
Of the 1,67,704 votes polled in the December 5 byelection, Mr. Gowda got 66,094 votes, Mr. Devaraj secured 56,363, and veteran Congressman K.B. Chandrashekar got 41,665 votes. The election was crucial for all three candidates as it was considered as ‘do-or-die’ poll battle for them. All four remaining candidates (H.M. Chandre Gowda of Uttama Prajakeeya Party, H.D. Revanna of Purvanchal Mahapanchayat, K.N. Shankare Gowda of Karnataka Rashtra Samiti, and Deve Gowda, an Independent) lost their deposits. According to political observers, the polarisation of smaller castes, AHINDA communities and minorities helped the BJP wrest the seat from the JD(S), which has a strong workers’ base across the district.
The counting of votes was held smoothly at the Government Polytechnic College in K.R. Pet town amid heavy police security and observation by Election Commission personnel.
Initial trends
The initial trends had indicated that the JD(S) would retain the seat as Mr. Devaraj was ahead of all others by a slender margin. But the trend changed after the fifth round of counting.
Mr. Gowda established a lead and maintained it till the last round of counting. He was officially declared the representative of K.R. Pet Assembly segment after the 19th round of voting.
The new MLA, who has now registered a hat-trick of victories, attributed the win to the electorate of the constituency and promised to work for the taluk’s development. He was elected from the same constituency as JD(S) nominee in 2013 and 2018. He recently tendered resignation from the Assembly to bring down the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government.
Mr. Gowda is a native of Kaigonahalli of K.R. Pet taluk, but is settled in Hiranandani area of Mumbai. He owns hotels in Mumbai and has developed a township in Sholapur.
He had tasted defeat in the Assembly elections from K.R. Pet during his maiden election as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in 2008; that year, Mr. Chandrashekar had won. However, Mr. Gowda won the next two elections against Mr. Chandrashekar as the JD(S) candidate.
Published - December 10, 2019 12:17 am IST
