BENGALURU: Calming the nerves of the ruling Congress, the party retained both Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies in the bypolls, for which the results were declared on Monday.
In Bagalkot, Congress’s Umesh Meti, son of HY Meti, whose death necessitated the bypoll, garnered 98,919 votes and defeated BJP’s Veeranna Charantimath (76,587 votes) by a margin of 22,332 votes.
In Davanagere South, Samarth Shamanur, grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, whose passing away led to the by-election, defeated BJP’s Srinivas T Dasakariyappa by a margin of 5,708 votes.
Samarth, son of Horticulture Minister SS Mallikarjuna and Davanagere MP Prabha Mallikarjun, polled 69,578 votes as against Srinivas’ 63,870.
“This mandate reflects the achievements of our government and the enduring strength of Congress’ ideology. Despite misinformation campaigns and influence of money power, voters reaffirmed their trust in Congress and our governance. We are committed to honouring this trust across the state and remain confident of continued public support,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Deputy CM and KPCC chief DK Shivakumar attributed the victories to the people welcoming the five guarantees. In Bagalkot, the victory margin of party candidate HY Meti in the 2023 Assembly polls was 5,878, which increased to 22,332 votes this time, he pointed out.
The Congress which won the bypolls to Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur in November 2024, has continued its winning streak since it came to power in 2023. But still, the latest polls were a challenge as they came amid the tussle for CM’s post between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
In Davanagere South, minority votes drifted away from the party as community members shifted allegiance to SDPI candidate Afsar Kodlipet, who garnered a whopping 18,975 votes. The party had taken disciplinary action against MLCs for indulging in anti-party activities in Davanagere, soon after the polling on April 9.
Now that the party has won, it will try to win back the confidence of Muslims. On revoking the disciplinary action taken against the MLCs, Shivakumar said, “It’s all party’s internal matter”. On the change in leadership, he said, “It’s not the right time to discuss it.”
Meanwhile, a group of 20 MLAs, led by chief whip in the Assembly Ashok M Pattan, is scheduled to fly to Delhi on Tuesday to meet party high command leaders to renew their demand for cabinet berths. Another group, all Shivakumar sympathisers, is also likely to take up a similar exercise to demand the CM post for their leader.
But the high command will get busy with affairs related to Kerala, where the Congress-led UDF has won a comfortable majority. Any decision is likely by June 30, a source said.
