BBMP bypolls: JDS presence shrinks in council
BENGALURU: The BBMP bypoll results, announced on Friday, saw the JDS tally in the BBMP council shrinking to 14, while the BJP and the Congress won a seat each. At Kaveripura, Pallavi C from the BJP won, while Palaniammal V from the Congress was victorious in Sagayapura ward. The elections were fought between the BJP and the Congress-JDS alliance. The Congress had, with JDS support, fielded a candidate at Sagayapura while its partner fielded its candidate with Congress support at Kaveripura.
Ramila Umashankar from the JDS had earlier represented Kaveripura,which lies in the Govindrajanagar assembly segment. She was tapped to be Deputy Mayor in October 2018, but died of a cardiac arrest within a week, necessitating the bypolls. The once JDS bastion has now fallen to the BJP as the JDS candidate Susheela Suresh lost to Pallavi by just 78 votes.
It may be recalled that while a family member of the late JDS corporator had asked for a ticket to contest, the party had declined to field them. This possibility could have led to the JDS defeat. Speaking to The New Indian Express, Padmanabha Reddy, Opposition Party leader in the BBMP Council said, “The Modi wave worked here too.”
The bypolls came on the heels of the BJP’s massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections. “Another reason for the win is V Somanna, who was recently elected as the MLA for Govindarajanagar,’’ Reddy said. At Sagayapura, the seat was vacant after V Elumalai, an independent candidate, died in December 2018. Congress candidate Palaniammal V polled 7,182 votes while Marimuthu, former hooch queen, got only 4,143 votes. The BJP candidate here managed to get only 639 votes, finishing fourth. The BJP has now 102 councillors, the Congress has 76 while the JDS has 14. There are six independents in the council.