Karnataka Election Results 2023: Shettar To Savadi, A Look At Performances Of BJP Turncoats

Former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar, who left the BJP and joined the Congress before the assembly elections in the state lost from the VIP seat of Hubli-Darwad Central

The Congress with a simple majority in the Karnataka Assembly election 2023 is all set to form the government in the state. The election was widely seen as a litmus test for both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls. It was also one of those elections that saw prominent names being denied tickets by their parties to contest the election for various reasons. This prompted several senior leaders to tender their resignation to the party and join the opposition.

Here we take a look at how some BJP defectors performed during the Karnataka Assembly election 2023.

Laxman Savadi

BJP turncoat Laxman Savadi, who joined Congress after being denied a ticket for the assembly polls, has won from the VIP seat of Athani against BJP's Mahesh Kumathalli by 76,122 votes.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi on April 12 announced his decision to resign as a Legislative Council member and from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a day after he was denied a ticket to contest the Karnataka Assembly elections. While making the announcement, Savadi said that he was not the one to go around with a begging bowl, adding that he is a self-respecting politician.

 Jagadish Shettar 

Former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar, who left the BJP and joined the Congress before the assembly elections in the state lost from the VIP seat of Hubli-Darwad Central by 34,289 votes against BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai. The EC numbers show that BJP's Tenginkai has secured 95,064 votes, while Congress candidate Shettar got 60,775 votes

R Shankar

After BJP ignored his request for a ticket to contest the Assembly election, R Shankar resigned from the party and fought the assembly election on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket from the Ranebennur constituency. Shankar has, however, lost the election to  Congress' Prakash Koliwad. 

M P Kumaraswamy

M P Kumaraswamy who quit the BJP to join the Janata Dal (Secular) before the Karnataka asembly elections 2023 was defeated by Nayana Motamma of the Indian National Congress.

The three-time MLA had joined JD(S) in presence of the party's legislature party leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and state President C M Ibrahim.