BENGALURU: With the election results out, an interesting trend has emerged. Several victors hail from the same families, and either have a father, daughter, son or brother, who contested the polls.
Congress veteran K H Muniyappa’s daughter Roopakala Shashidhar was declared the winner in KGF. Meanwhile, her father too scripted a victory from Devanahalli. Similarly, while Congress’ M Krishnappa won from Vijayanagar, his son Priya Krishna won from Govindarajanagar. Likewise, Arkalgudu Manju, who contested from Arkalgud, won, and his son Mantar Gowda won in Madikeri, a BJP bastion. JDS’ GT Deve Gowda and his son Harish Gowda have emerged victorious, from Chamundeshwari and Hunsur Assembly constituencies, respectively. Meanwhile, Sowmya Reddy, daughter of Congress stalwart Ramalinga Reddy, lost from Jayanagar by a measly margin of 17 votes.
This trend is seen across districts. Also, there have been instances where family members represented different parties. In Belagavi, the Jarkiholi brothers were able to hold on to their strongholds. While Ramesh, who had jumped to the BJP from the Congress in 2019, won from Gokak, his brother Balachandra won from Arabavi. Satish Jarkiholi, who contested on a Congress ticket, won from Yamakanamaradi.
Similarly, mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, won from the Gangavathi seat, representing his newly-founded outfit, ‘Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha’. His brothers Somashekhar Reddy and Karunakar Reddy, from the BJP, lost in Ballari City and Harapanahalli, respectively.
Meanwhile, the election also saw instances where someone from a family won, while others had to concede defeat. A notable example is the electoral loss of JDS’ Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, who lost in Ramanagara. However, both Kumaraswamy and his brother HD Revanna won their seats in Channapatna and Holenarsipura, respectively.