4 min readBengaluruMay 14, 2023 04:04 AM IST
First published on: May 14, 2023 at 04:04 AM IST
The election results in the Bengaluru city did not throw much of a surprise. Both the BJP and the Congress managed to cling on to their respective seats, while recording some hits and misses. The BJP managed to keep its tally, 15, intact, while the Congress managed to gain a seat over its 2018 number, taking its tally to 13, though according to latest reports, one seat is undecided. The JD(S) drew a blank, after losing Dasarahalli to the BJP’s S Muniraju, who won securing 91,289 votes.
Bengaluru saw extensive electioneering by star campaigners like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who conducted three mega roadshows in the city covering 22 Assembly constituencies. The BJP was targeting wins in at least 18-20 seats through a “Modi wave”, even as the IT capital has always chosen its legislators based on their popularity and works. In 2018, the BJP had initially bagged 11 seats, while the Congress got 15 and the JD(S) two. But after the 2019 defections, the BJP’s tally went up to 15, while the Congress’s tally slid to 12 and the JD(S) to one.
In Vijay Nagar and Govindarajnagar, the Congress’s father-son duo M Krishnappa and Priya Krishna won comfortably, with the former retaining his seat beating the BJP’s Umesh Shetty. Meanwhile, housing minister V Somanna, who had earlier represented Govindarajanagar, lost from both Chamarajanagar and Varuna.
In BTM Layout and Jayanagar, the Congress’s father-daughter duo of Ramalinga Reddy and Sowmya Reddy also appeared to make a comeback. While eight-time MLA Ramalinga Reddy’s win was a cakewalk, Sowmya was initially declared the winner by a wafer-thin margin of 247 votes against the BJP’s C K Ramamurthy. There was however suspense afterwards as the BJP candidate sought recounting, following which it was declared that he garnered 17 votes more than her.
Sowmya was denied another recounting by the EC officials. She then staged a protest at the counting centre, the fracas over which continues.
Three defectors from the Congress — Munirathna Naidu, Byrathi Basavarj and S T Somashekar — managed to regain Rajarajeshwari Nagar, K R Puram and Yeshwanthpura seats, respectively. These were also seats where Modi conducted his first roadshow in the Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency.
The BJP also managed to hold its ground in Rajajinagar (Suresh Kumar), C V Raman Nagar (S Raghu), Malleshwaram (Dr C N Ashwath Narayan), Chickpet (Uday Garudachar), Basavanagudi (Ravi Subramanya), Padmanaba Nagar (R Ashok), Yelahanka (S R Vishwanath), Mahadevapura (Manjula Limbavali), Bommanahalli (Satish Reddy) and Bangalore South (M Krishnappa).
Meanwhile, the Congress comfortably won Shantinagar (N A Haris), Chamarajpet (Zameer Ahmed Khan), Byatranapura (Krishna Byre Gowda), Shivajinagar (Rizwan Arshad), Sarvagnanagar (K J George) and Gandhinagar (Dinesh Gundurao). Congress candidate A C Srinivasa managed to win the SC-reserved seat of Pulakeshi Nagar after the party had denied the ticket to Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, who was caught in the crossfire of the 2020 riots in DJ Halli. Murthy, who contested on a BSP ticket, lost to Srinivasa by over 62,000 votes. In Gandhinagar, Dinesh Gundurao squeezed past the BJP’s Sapthagiri Gowda by 105 votes.
A BJP campaign manager for Bengaluru said, “We expected a triangular fight in many seats, but it turned out to be a straight fight. We were at least aiming to win Anekal, Vijay Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Jayanagar, but we lost by narrow margins. I feel the votes of all the minorities and the marginalised communities consolidated in favour of the Congress. However, I strongly believe that if not for Modi’s roadshow, we would have come down to 7-8 seats. We were able to save Malleswaram and Rajajinagar because of it.”
Congress workers and supporters celebrating their victory of Karnataka assembly elections in Bengaluru. Express photo by Jithendra M. 
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