BANGALORE: The Congress today galloped its way to power in Karnataka with a majority on its own after a gap of seven years, decimating the ruling BJP.
In good tidings for the party battered by scams, the Congress was set to recapture its old southern fort by a comfortable majority of 120, seven more than the required half-way mark in a house of 224 members.
The party has won 63 seats and was leading in 57 others pushing the BJP and the JD(S) far behind. The BJP may be pushed to the third place conceding the main opposition status to JD(S).
Hit by the exit of former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the image of corruption during its tenure in the first government in the south, BJP has won 22 seats and was leading in 17. JD (S) bagged 22 seats and leading in 21.
The SP has one seat while ‘Others’ have won 12 seats and leading in eight.
The ‘Others’ include the fledgling Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) floated by Yeddyurappa, who achieved his immediate task of damaging BJP, has won one seat and could establish leads in only seven seats. Yeddyurappa won from Shikaripura by over 15,000 votes.
In the elections five years ago when BJP stormed to power for the first time in a southern state on its own, the party had won 110 seats against Congress’ 80 and JD(S) 28.
Polling was held in 223 segments, with the one in Periyapatna in Mysore district put off to May 28 following death of BJP candidate. With Congress all set to form Government, the race for Chief Ministership has hotted up, with the choice now appearing to narrow down between Union Labor and Employment Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge, a veteran leader from the State, and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah.
BJP’s performance in its own strongholds was pathetic, reflected in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi where its defeat was near complete as also in Yeddyurappa’s home district of Shimoga and Bellary.
BSR Congress of former BJP Minister B Sriramulu also secured four seats and chipped away the BJP votes, as the ruling party stood mauled.
C P Yogeeshwara, who quit the Jagadish Shettar Ministry, towards the end of the tenure of the Government and contested on Samajwadi Party ticket, won from Channapata, defeating Anitha Kumaraswamy (JDS), wife of JDS state unit President H D Kumaraswamy, by nearly 6,500 votes.
Yeddyurappa, who broke away from the BJP and formed the regional outfit last year, bagged only five seats and was leading in one more but the damage it caused to the BJP’s prospects was immense in many constituencies.
He got re-elected from Shikaripura in Shimoga district.
While he succeeded in decimating the BJP, it was a disappointing electoral debut for his nascent outfit and his hopes of playing a king-maker have been dashed. -PTI
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