B Y Vijayendra, the son of former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat strongman B S Yediyurappa, won Shikaripura by 11,008 votes in his electoral debut on Saturday. Vijayendra received 81,810 votes, while Independent candidate and Congress rebel S P Nagarajagowda received 70,802 votes. According to the Election Commission website, Goni Malatesha of Congress finished third with 8,101 votes.
He was pitted against Congress' GB Malatesh. B S Yediyurappa easily won this seat in 2018, defeating Malatesh by a margin of 35,397 votes. Since 1983, Yediyurappa has represented the Shikaripura assembly constituency. Following his retirement from active politics, he vacated this seat for his son. Vijayendra has held several positions in the state unit of the party, but this is his first election. He was appointed vice president of the Karnataka unit of BJP in the year 2020.
Independent candidate S P Nagarajagowda, a Congress rebel, finished second in the election with 42.47 percent of the vote, or 70802 votes. Congress candidate Goni Malatesh came in third place with 4.86 percent of the vote or 8101 votes.
The constituency went to the polls without Yediyurappa for the first time in four decades. B Y Vijayendra, Vice-President of the party's state unit, entered electoral politics by filing a nomination from this seat.
Karnataka registered a "record" turnout of 73.19 per cent in the voting on May 10, to elect representatives to the 224-member Assembly.
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Yediyurappa easily won this seat in 2018, defeating Congress's Goni Malatesh by a massive 35,397 votes. Yediyurappa won this seat again in 2013, defeating Congress' HS Shanthaveerappagowda by nearly 25,000 votes.
Congress has passed the halfway point and is ready to form the state government. However, with senior leaders DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah in the running, Congress will face a new challenge in selecting the state's Chief Minister.