Karnataka Bypolls 2019: BJP Wins 12, Congress 2, JD-S 0; Siddaramaiah, Gundu Rao Quit Throw Karna Cong In Turmoil

The victory in Karnataka by-elections comes as a major boost for BJP when the party is losing footprint in states, the recent being in Maharashtra. While it is a huge setback for the Congress party who could win only two out of 15 seats whereas it had previously held 12 of them.

In a near sweep, a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 12 seats, while the Congress only 2 and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) faced a total rout in Karnataka's by-elections for 15 seats held on December 5, an official said on Monday.

New Delhi: In a near sweep, a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 12 seats, while the Congress only 2 and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) faced a total rout in Karnataka's by-elections for 15 seats held on December 5, an official said on Monday. The victory in Karnataka by-elections comes as a major boost for BJP when the party is losing footprint in states, the recent being in Maharashtra. While it is a huge setback for the Congress party who could win only two out of 15 seats whereas it had previously held 12 of them. The BJP won Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur, K.R. Pura, Yeshvanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout and Krishnarajapete. The Congress won Hunasur in Mysuru district and Shivajinagara in Bengaluru central. The Karnataka result would not only determine whether Yeddyurappa stays in power. It would also nudge its cadre to renewed activism ahead of the third phase of Jharkhand elections due on December 12. Meanwhile, CLP leader Siddaramaiah and Congress' Karnataka chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their posts after their party put up a poor show in the Assembly by-elections, throwing the state unit into a turmoil. Minutes after the results of the bypolls to 15 segments, in which the BJP won the lion's share of 12, they tendered their resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi owning moral responsibility for not being able to give "satisfactory results."

Siddaramaiah, Congress: I have also resigned as leader of opposition in Karnataka Assembly. https://t.co/uBdpfo67C8

— ANI (@ANI) December 9, 2019

In his letter to Sonia Gandhi, Siddaramaiah, a former Chief Minister and senior party leader, expressed regret for not being able to give "satisfactory results" in the bypolls despite his sincere efforts. "I deem it necessary to step down as Leader of CLP by taking moral responsibility," he wrote. Giving a similar explanation, Rao too said minutes later he has also resigned. As the ruling BJP needed only 7 seats in the 223-member Assembly for a simple majority with 112 as the halfway mark, the 4-month-old BJP government will continue in office for over 3 years till the 5-year term of the present Assembly lapses in May 2023. The BJP secured 50.3 percent of the total votes polled, the Congress 31.3 percent and the JD-S 12.1 percent respectively in the 15 Assembly segments. The BJP fielded 11 Congress and 3 JD-S defectors to wrest the seats from both the opposition parties. The Congress won 2 of the 15 seats it contested while the JD-S lost in all the 12 seats it contested across the state. Independent Sharat Kumar Bachegowda won the high-profile Hosakote seat against the BJP's M.T.B. Nagaraj, who declared assets worth Rs 1,230 crore in his poll affidavit. Nagaraj is a Congress defector, while Bachegowda is a BJP rebel whom the party expelled for not withdrawing from the crucial battle at the hustings as an Independent. JD-S did not field its candidate in Hosakote but supported Bachegowda, who is the son of BJP's Lok Sabha member from Chikkaballapur B.N. Bache Gowda. (with inputs from agencies)