JDS-BJP alliance fails litmus test ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls, candidate loses to Congress in Bengaluru MLC poll

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಚುನಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗೆಲುವು ಸಾಧಿಸಿದ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಅಭ್ಯರ್ಥಿ ಪುಟ್ಟಣ್ಣ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಅಭಿನಂದನೆಗಳು.

ಬಿಜೆಪಿ, ಜೆಡಿಎಸ್ ಮೈತ್ರಿಗೆ ಮಣೆ ಹಾಕದ
ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಪರವಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಕಾರ್ಯವೈಖರಿಯನ್ನು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಎಂಬುದಕ್ಕೆ ಈ ಗೆಲುವು ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ನುಡಿಯುತ್ತದೆ. pic.twitter.com/8laxWwyWj9

— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) February 20, 2024

On Tuesday evening, Puttanna defeated Ranganath by 1,507 votes after registering 8,260 votes compared to his rival’s 6,753 votes in an election with a total of 16,063 voters who are all teachers with 10,106 being women. As many as 1,000 votes were reported to have been rejected reducing the total valid votes.

“This is a special day for the Congress party. The joint candidate of the JDS and BJP under a new alliance has been defeated. It was a seat won by the BJP earlier but the BJP allowed the JDS to field its candidate,” Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar said after the trend in the results emerged on Tuesday evening.

“I would like to say that some BJP-JDS leaders had claimed that the polls will be an indicator of things to come. The results have come and Puttanna of the Congress has won the polls. He has won for the fifth consecutive time. The voters who are educated and are teachers have rejected the BJP-JDS and have voted for the Congress. The same mood will prevail in the state for the Lok Sabha polls,” Shivakumar claimed.

The polls held on February 16 was considered the first test for the new alliance formed by the BJP and the Janata Dal Secular parties in Karnataka ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

As a part of the adjustments for the alliance to work effectively in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP conceded the Bangalore teachers’ constituency seat to the JDS – following a request by the alliance partner to be allowed to field its candidate in the seat. The seat was given to the JDS in January following a meeting of the state leaders of the two parties.

The polls from the teachers’ constituency for the upper house in the state legislature involves voting by teachers registered to vote in the polls. Puttanna won the constituency on four consecutive occasions – thrice from the JDS and once on a BJP ticket.

The JDS fielded the long time president of its legal cell A P Ranganath as its candidate. Ranganath had lost previously in the constituency on a JDS ticket.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said ahead of the polls that despite the BJP-JDS alliance the Congress will win the seat.

“This constituency is the one where Puttanna had resigned to contest the assembly election. He is contesting for the fifth time. In the past he has defeated the BJP and the JDS. He has the support of the teachers and has also won their hearts and this has helped him win the teachers’ constituency four times in a row,” the Karnataka CM had said.

The outcome of the polls will not have a bearing on the legislative council where the BJP-JDS combine has a clear majority in the 75-member house. The BJP has 34, Congress has 29, JDS has eight, one Independent and there is the chairman plus two vacancies in the council.

The second vacancy in the house is on account of the resignation of Congress MLC and former BJP Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar who quit last month to return to the BJP.