BENGALURU: Contrary to popular expectations, the disqualified MLAs contesting on BJP tickets won with much bigger margins, compared to the 2018 election, indicating that their loyal voters had shifted their ballot to the BJP, adding their bulk to the party’s voters, who are mostly Lingayats.
Out of 15 assembly constituencies, BJP won 12 seats — of these, 11 were disqualified MLAs. These MLAs, who were popular in their constituencies, retained their votes, besides managing to gain a large number of BJP supporters, which multiplied their winning margin manifold.
For instance, BC Patil from Hirekerur, who won by just 555 votes in 2018, this time won by close to 30,000 votes. Likewise, Shivaram Hebbar from Yellapur, who had won by 1,483 votes in 2018, increased his margin by more than 31,000.
Political analyst and adviser to CM BS Yediyurappa, Mahadev Prakash told TNIE that when Veerendra Patil moved from the Janata Party and contested from the Congress in 1989, the party had got 174 seats out of 224, because he was a mass Lingayat leader and retained his loyal voters.
This time, too, something similar happened. These candidates contested from the BJP, taking the Lingayat vote with them. For example, Gopalaiah, a former JDS leader with a strong Vokkaliga following, got the 30,000 Lingayat votes in Mahalakshmi Layout, increasing his victory margin.
Shrimant Patil, who had the backing of SC/ST and backward class votes in Kagwad, benefited from the Lingayat vote when he moved to the BJP.
