Mandya: The Congress which was lying low in the sugar belt of Mandya district, has now risen like a Phoenix, winning 5 out of the total 7 seats, while the Sarvodya party candidate Darshan Puttannaiah, whom it had  backed in Melukote Constituency, won. The JD(S) which had maintained a stranglehold in the district for nearly two decades, has just won one seat-K.R. Pet.

While the Congress won in Srirangapatna, Mandya, Maddur, Nagamangala and Malavalli (SC), the Sarovdaya party candidate backed by it in Melukote won, while the JD(S) succeeded in winning just one seat-K.R. Pet, which was held by K.C. Narayanagowda of the BJP, who was a Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai cabinet.

Congress candidate Ganiga Ravikumar won from Mandya, defeating his nearest rival Ramachandra of the JD(S) by a slender margin of 2,019 votes. While Ravikumar secured  61,411 votes, Ramachandra could manage to get 59,392 votes.

In Nagamangala, where JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda campaigned extensively, Congress candidate N. Cheluvarayaswamy, a former Minister won by a comfortable margin against his nearest rival Suresh Gowda of the JD(S) by a margin of 4,414 votes. The contest of ‘Fighter’ Ravi as an independent candidate (BJP rebel) marred the chances of  Suresh Gowda, it is said. The BJP candidate Sudha Shivaramegowda, wife of former MP L.R. Shivaramegowda,  came a poor third. 

In Srirangapatna, Congress candidate Rameshbabu Bandisiddegowda defeated his nearest rival Ravindra Srikantaiah of the JD(S), thus avenging his loss in the 2018 assembly polls. Rameshbabu won by a margin of 11,137 votes. The BJP which has little base in this Constituency, fared well this time, with its candidate  Induvalu Sachhidananda securing  over 42,000 votes.

In Malavalli (SC reserve) Constituency, former Minister P.M. Narendraswamy of the Congress registered a thumping win over his nearest JD(S) rival K.C. Annadani by a margin of over 49,000 votes. This is the highest margin of victory by a candidate in Mandya district. The BJP candidate Muniraju came a distant third bagging 25,116 votes.

In Maddur, Congress candidate Kadalur Uday registered a decisive victory against JD(S) candidate D.C. Thammanna, a two-time Maddur MLA and former Minister, by a huge margin of nearly 25,000 votes. BJP candidate S.P. Swamy, a new face of the party,  made a mark by bagging nearly 29,000 votes.

The JD(S) registered win in K.R. Pet, the only Constituency where the party triumphed in its stronghold of Mandya district. The party candidate H.T. Manju defeated his nearest rival B.L. Devaraju of the Congress by a margin of over 22,000 votes.

The BJP candidate K.C.Narayanagowda, a Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai cabinet and who currently held the seat, lost badly coming third by securing just over 38,000 votes.