BJP swept the Karnataka By-polls by winning 5 seats while JD (S) won 3 assembly seats. Congress failed to win even a single seat in the  by-elections. BJP now has absolute strength (115 members) in the 224-member Assembly. The by-polls were held after 3 Congress and 4 JD(S) MLAs resigned from the assembly to join the BJP. This is a huge blow to Congress Party despite having cadre strength in at least 5 constituencies. Effective strength of BJP is now at 121 (6 independent MLAs are supporting BJP).

By-elections for 8 Karnataka by-elections were held on December 27th in a tense atmosphere (stability Vs defectors). But BJP comfortably won the majority number of seats to regain absolute majority in the Assembly. Voters voted for “defectors” mean they want stable Government. BJP should utilise this chance to gain strength in this South Indian state. Caste, Money and liquor played significant role in the outcome of by-polls.

Congress- self goals:

1. Lack of coordination in the Congress camp helped BJP and JD (S) to clean sweep the Assembly by-elections.

2. Congress released candidate list in the last minute.

3. Lingayats are now with BJP while Vokkaligas are with JD (S). Congress fails to plan a new strategy despite knowing this hard fact. Congress needs to do caste re-engineering to make progress in Karnataka vote bank politics.

Surprise: Kumaraswamy and his wife are the first couple in the Karnataka Assembly.

Bad news: M.D. Lakshminarayan, the BJP candidate in Turuvekere, suffered a heart attack after hearing his defeat news. He collapsed in the counting centre. He was ahead of his rival JD (S) candidate till the final round of counting. He lost the seat by a margin of about 3,500 votes.

Karnataka Assembly by-polls results:

BJP won in: Party further strengthened in the Coastal and Northern Karnataka with these results.

1. Arabhavi (Balachandra Jarakiholi, Minister)

2. Devadurga (K Shivanagowda Naik, Minister)

3. Doddaballapur (J Narasimha Swamy). Son of Congress strongman R.L. Jalappa retained the seat.

4. Karwar (Anand Asnotikar, Minister)

5. Hukkeri (Umesh Katti, Minister)

JD(S) won in: Devegowda family still rules in the southern Karnataka, thanks to Vokkaligas..

1. Madhugiri (Anita Kumaraswamy) – Wife of Kumaraswamy won as expected. Defector lost the seat here due to strong association of Vokkaligas with JD (S). Anita runs Kasturi, a Kannada TV channel.

2. Turuvekere – JD (S) wrested this seat from Congress Party. M.T. Krishnappa won in the final round. Vokkaliga community has strong say here.

3. Maddur (Kalpana Siddaraju). This is a JD (S) bastion and election was held due to the death of JD-S MLA M.S. Siddaraju. Nephew of S.M. Krishna who contested on Congress ticket lost in Maddur.

Election results added strength to the rumors of BJP-JD (S) tacit understanding in at least 6 constituencies. But BJP and JD (S) fought hard in Madhugiri and Turuvekere Assembly constituencies.

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