Karnataka: Cong candidate wins Legislative Council bypoll, setback for BJP-JD(S) alliance

PTI, Feb 21, 2024, 8:09 AM IST

Congress candidate P Puttanna on Tuesday won the by-election to the Karnataka Legislative Council from Bangalore Teachers’ Constituency.

He defeated his nearest opponent A P Ranganath, a joint candidate of the BJP-JD(S) alliance by a margin of 1,507 votes.

This defeat is seen as a setback for the BJP-JD(S) combine, as it was the first election they fought together after the regional party joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September last year.

Both parties will be fighting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls together for which seat sharing talks are on. Of the 16,541 votes cast during the polls held on February 16, Puttanna had secured a total of 8,260 votes, followed by 6,753 votes by Ranganath. 1,239 votes were rejected.

Nine candidates contested the election.

The bypoll was necessitated as Puttanna, who was representing the Bangalore Teachers’ constituency as a BJP candidate, resigned from the post to switch to the Congress to contest the 2023 Assembly polls from the Rajajinagar constituency. He was defeated by BJP’s Suresh Kumar. Commenting on the poll results, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the bypoll result makes it clear that the people have not accepted the BJP-JD(S) alliance.

The secular mask of JD(S) has come off after it decided to ally with the BJP and the people have given a ”tight slap to JD(S)’ communal avatar”, he said in a statement.

Congratulating Puttanna, the CM said, ”This is the victory for our government’s nine months of pro-people rule and it showcases the trust reposed by the electorate in us.”