Newsroom, Nov 6: Even though Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance has outwitted BJP in November 3 bypolls by winning four of five seats, it’s in fact the dynasty politics of above three parties which retained supremacy.
In three of five seats (three for the Lok Sabha and two for assembly) where bypolls were held dynasts came out victorious.
Shivamogga (BJP | Yeddyurappa’s son)
This is the only seat that the BJP could win in the Karnataka bypolls. B Y Yeddyurappa won this Lok Sabha seat for the party. The seat had fallen vacant after BS Yeddyurappa, the Karnataka BJP chief, resigned as MP after becoming an MLA earlier this year.
In the bypoll, Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra was made the BJP candidate from Shivamogga.
He was, however, not the only candidate at Shivamogga to take forward the family legacy in the election. JD(S) had fielded Madhu Bangarappa, son of former chief minister S Bangarappa while JD(U) had fielded Mahima Patel, son of another former chief minister J H Patel. Interestingly, JD (U) is an ally of the BJP at the national level.
Ramanagara (JDS | Kumaraswamy’s wife)
This seat fell vacant after Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy chose to keep Channapatna constituency after winning both in the assembly election in May this year. Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha Kumaraswamy was made a candidate in the bypoll.
Anitha Kumaraswamy won Ramanagara assembly bypoll defeating BJP's candidate L Chandrashekhar, who withdrew from election just two days from voting. Interestingly, L Chandrashekhar had switched from the Congress to the BJP when he was chosen as a party candidate for Ramanagar bypoll.
Jamkhandi (Congress | Siddu Nyamagouda’s son)
Jamkhandi assembly seat had fallen vacant only days after Congress MLA from this seat, Siddu Nyamagouda died in a road accident earlier this year. The Congress fielded his son, Anand Nyamagouda for the Jamkhandi bypoll.
Anand Nyamagouda defeated Shrikant Kulkarni of the BJP. Incidentally, Kulkarni had come second even in the May election when Siddu Nyamagouda defeated him.
Ballari (Congress crushes dynasty)
B Sreeramulu, the BJP leader, had won the Ballari Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Like BS Yeddyurappa, Sreeramulu resigned from the Lok Sabha after he became MLA in May this year. His resignation necessitated bypoll in Ballari.
Sreeramulu was the local aide of BJP leader Sushma Swaraj when she contested Lok Sabha polls against Sonia Gandhi, then Congress president, from Ballari in 1999. The BJP fielded B Sreemulu's sister J Shantha as its candidate from Ballari against VS Ugrappa of the Congress.
Ugrappa won this seat for the Congress with a margin over 2 lakh votes. And, his rise is not linked to dynasty politics. An MLC in Karnataka, Ugrappa was considered an outsider at Ballari. But he had the strong backing of Siddaramaiah, the former Karnataka chief minister.
Mandya (JDS)
In Mandya, JD(S) LR Shivarame Gowda won the Lok Sabha bypoll defeating BJP's Siddaramaiah, a retired commercial tax officer. Gowda is a two-time MLA. The JD(S) preferred him as a candidate to "someone from HD Deve Gowda's family" against Siddaramaiah.
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