Hat-trick defeats for Nikhil Kumaraswamy; BJP loses Shiggaon & Sandur

Mysuru: In a major jolt to the Opposition BJP and JD(S) alliance, the ruling Congress party in the State emerged victorious in the by-polls held to three Assembly segments — Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon. With today’s by-poll results, Congress party’s strength in the 224-member Assembly has gone up to 137. The by-poll results also witnessed sons of two former Chief Ministers facing defeat.

The ruling party has the support of Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah of Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha.

The BJP and JD(S) alliance faced a humiliating defeat in Channapatna (Ramanagara District) with JD(S) State Youth President and NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy conceding defeat to C.P. Yogeshwar, who contested on a Congress party ticket after quitting BJP recently.

With this defeat, the JD(S) has lost its foothold in Ramanagara with all four MLAs from the district — Kanakapura, Magadi, Ramanangara and Channapatna Assembly seats — representing the Congress party.

The by-polls in Channapatna, which had grabbed the national attention, was expected to be a close fight between Congress party’s Yogeshwar, also a former Minister and NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

However, it turned out to be one-sided with Yogeshwar emerging victorious with a comfortable margin of 25,515 votes. While Yogeshwar secured a total of 1,12,635 votes, Nikhil Kumaraswamy had to be content with 87,120 votes.

This defeat for Nikhil came as a shock as he could not win in the Constituency which his father and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had won in the 2023 Assembly polls.

This also meant that JD(S) State Youth President Nikhil had suffered a hat-trick of defeats in the elections after losing 2019 Lok Sabha Polls from Mandya, 2023 Assembly Polls from Ramanagara and 2024 Assembly By-Poll from Channapatna.

Meanwhile, it was a joyous moment for C.P. Yogeshwar, who managed to comeback strongly after suffering loss in the two previous Assembly elections against H.D. Kumaraswamy in Channapatna. Through this victory, Yogeshwar was elected for the sixth time to Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the same Constituency. Earlier, he had won as an independent (1999), twice from Congress Party (2004 and 2008), once from Samajwadi Party (2011 by-poll), once from BJP (2013 by-election) and now once again on a Congress ticket (2024 by-poll). With rumours about a possible cabinet reshuffle making rounds in the political circles, Yogeshwar would be keen to be part of the new Cabinet.

BJP loses Shiggaon

Meanwhile, BJP suffered a shocking defeat in Shiggaon Assembly segment, with Congress party’s Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan defeating BJP’s Bharath Bommai, son of former CM Basavaraj Bommai, by a margin of 13,418 votes. While Yasir Ahmed secured 1,00,587 votes, Bharath Bommai polled 86,960 votes. Earlier, in the 2023 Assembly Polls, former CM and now Haveri MP Basavaraj Bommai had won by margin of 35,978 votes against Yasir Pathan. In fact, Shiggaon had turned out to be a strong bastion for the BJP with Basavaraj Bommai emerging victorious for four consecutive times since 2008 Assembly Polls. Basavaraj Bommai had to vacate his Assembly seat after being elected to Lok Sabha from Haveri in the 2024 General Elections.

Many of the political pundits and media agencies had predicted that BJP would retain the Shiggaon seat after Congress leader Syed Azeempeer Khadri had turned a rebellion by filing his nomination as an independent candidate. However, Housing and Waqf Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, who intervened, was successful to bring Azeempeer Khadri and Yasir Pathan together and work for the party’s victory.

Congress has the last laugh in Sandur

The by-poll in Sandur (Ballari district) Assembly segment which was expected to be a close fight between Congress party’s Annapoorna Tukaram, wife of Ballari MP E. Tukaram and BJP’s Bangaru Hamunanthu, a close aide of Gangavathi MLA G. Janardhan Reddy. However, Annapoorna Tukaram won the by-poll by a margin of 9,568 votes. While the Congress candidate polled a total of 93,051 votes, BJP candidate secured 83,483 votes. The by-election to Sandur Assembly segment was necessitated after E. Tukaram, who was elected in 2023 Assembly Polls, had to vacate the seat following his election to Lok Sabha from Ballari in the 2024 General Elections.