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Journalism of Courage
For the first time in 20 years, the JD(S) lost from its stronghold of Hassan with Prajwal Revanna, the sitting MP who is under arrest over cases of sexual assault, losing to Congress candidate Shreyas M Patil by 43,738 votes.
Prajwal, grandson of prime minister H D Deve Gowda and the son of former PWD minister and Holenarasipura MLA H D Revanna, was arrested on May 31 and is in the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) until June 6. He had left the country on April 27, a day after Hassan voted. Two days before the voting, hundreds of pen drives had been distributed across Hassan containing more than 2,900 sex videos, allegedly recorded by the MP himself.
A police officer said Prajwal was allowed to watch television for news of the results, but walked out as his defeat appeared imminent. “Until the 10th round, there was a tight contest but after that, when it became clear that Shreyas Patil was winning, Prajwal walked out,” the officer said.
While a local leader JD(S) attributed the defeat to anti-incumbency, others say the circulation of the pen drives may have had an impact on the results.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which the JD(S) contested on its own, Prajwal defeated A Manju of the BJP. A JD(S) leader in Hasan said, “Despite the BJP wave in the last Lok Sabha elections, Prajwal won by a margin of 1.41 lakh votes and he was the only JD(S) MP from the state and now, he has lost by a margin of more than 40,000 votes.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, a family member of one of the rape victims said they were happy with the results. “We all are happy that Prajwal Revanna lost the elections. He should also be punished for the crimes that he has committed. We don’t know if we will ever be able to lead normal lives, but he should pay for the cruelty he has committed,” the family member said.
Prajwal faces three sexual assault cases. His father Revanna is out on bail in a kidnap case while his mother Bhavani Revanna is absconding.
Hasan has remained a JD(S) turf for over three decades, with Devegowda representing the seat since 1991, losing just once, in 1991. In 1996, Rudresh Gowda contested on a JD(S) ticket and won.
After his win on Tuesday, Congress’s Shreyas M Patel, 31, told reporters, “From now on, Hassan is not the JD(S)’s bastion but the Congress. We will ensure that we will win all the seats in the next Assembly elections,” said Patel, who is the grandson of the late Congress leader from Hassan, G Puttaswamy Gowda.
S Devegowda, Hassan city JD(S) president attributed the loss to the popularity of the Congress government schemes. “The pen drive issue came much after the elections. I think the guarantee schemes of the state government spoiled our chances,” he said.
Prajwal’s uncle and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said, “I can’t tell you the reasons openly but in the coming days, we will rectify the problems in Hassan.”
