BENGALURU : Just a year ago, KPCC President DK Shivakumar got 1.4 lakh votes in Kanakapura assembly constituency, accounting for over 75% of the total voters, while his challenger from the BJP R Ashoka got less than 20,000 votes. But Congress candidate and Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh got fewer votes from their home turf Kanakapura in Lok Sabha elections.
According to data available with TNSE, BJP’s Dr Manjunath got 83,303 votes, while Suresh got 1.08 lakh votes in Kanakapura assembly segment, which is one among eight assembly segments of Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency. This is the only segment where Congress got a decent lead over the BJP. In Ramanagara, Suresh got 145 more votes than Manjunath. Ramanagara assembly constituency was earlier represented by Anitha Kumaraswamy of the JDS. Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil, who contested from here in 2023, lost to the Congress candidate by around 10,000 votes. This time, the margin was reduced to three digits.
In Magadi, Dr Manjunath got a lead of close to 30,000 votes, and in Channapatna assembly segment, he bagged a lead of 21,000 votes. Magadi was once a JDS bastion which switched to the Congress last time. Channapatna, which is represented by Kumaraswamy, voted in favour of the alliance candidate. In Kunigal assembly segment, represented by Dr HD Ranganath, a relative of Shivakumar and Suresh, Dr Manjunath got around 24,000 more votes than Suresh. Similarly, in Anekal segment, the BJP candidate bagged more than 22,000 votes against the Congress candidate. Interestingly, out of eight assembly constituencies comprising Bangalore Rural, five seats -- Kanakapura, Magadi, Ramanagara, Kunigal and Anekal -- are represented by Congress MLAs. Voters who opted for the Congress in the 2023 assembly polls, turned to the BJP for the LS polls.
Bengaluru voters from Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Bengaluru South assembly segments played an important role in Manjunath’s victory. In RR Nagar, Dr Manjunath got around 99,000 votes more than Suresh, and in Bengaluru South, he got a lead of around 97,000 votes, pumping up Dr Manjunath’s victory margin to 2.69 lakh votes. Both the constituencies, represented by BJP MLAs, voted largely in favour of the BJP candidate.