BENGALURU: Byelections to three Lok Sabha and two Assembly segments in the state that will put the Congress-JD(S) coalition to test will be held on Saturday. It will also test the state BJP leadership’s ability to fight the JD(S)-Congress combine in the 2019 General elections.
As many as 54.54 lakh voters can exercise their franchise from 7 am to 6 pm on Saturday.Voter turnout is likely to be low as electorate has not shown much of an interest in the the election process as the newly elected Lok Sabha members will hardly have six month tenure before the 2019 General elections. Short-tenure, however, had not damped the spirits of the political parties that carried out a high-voltage campaign
and seemed to have made an all out effort to win the byelections.
For the JD(S)-Congress coalition, it is a significant election as it will test their ability to work together to stop Modi-Shah bandwagon in the 2019 polls. To fight their common enemy — BJP — political rivals former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah came together after 12 years and conducted joint campaign in Ballari and Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituencies. Though the leaders managed to work together similar bonhomie was not visible at grassroots level, especially in constituencies like Mandya.
On Friday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy expressed confidence that the coalition candidates will win all five seats that go to polls on Saturday.While the JD(S) seems to have an edge in Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, its candidate’s victory in Ramanagara is a mere formality.L Chandrashekar, who was contesting as BJP candidate against Anita Kumaraswamy of JD(S) retired from the contest just two days before the bypolls.
The JD (S)-Congress combine seemed to have managed to put a good fight in Shivamogga, which was considered as BJP’s bastion. The Congress is supporting JD (S) candidate Madhu Bangarappa, who is taking on BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra. Ensuring his son’s victory will be crucial for Yeddyurappa’s leadership ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while Chief Minister Kumaraswamy campaigned in the district for three days to wrest the seat from BJP.
In Ballari, the only Lok Sabha seat that the Congress is contesting, the party deployed over 10 ministers. It turned out to be contest between the Congress and BJP leader B Sriramulu.Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar was in-charge of campaigning in the district.However, low voter turnout will be a matter of concern for all the parties in Ballari and Shivamogga constituencies.Meanwhile, voters in Haraginadhoni in Ballari and Balekere village in Mandya Lok Sabha constituency have threatened to boycott the bypolls.
In Balekere village, voters are upset as they have to travel 7 km to exercise their franchise, while villagers of Haraginadhoni are protesting against failure to provide them drinking water, which they have been demanding since at least a decade.
