Karnataka LS Election result: Ruling Congress wins 9, BJP 17, JD(S) 2

mangaloretoday networks

Bengaluru, June 04, 2024: The ruling Congress in Karnataka has improved its tally by winning nine seats while the BJP and JD(S) combine emerged victorious in 19 constituencies in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 17 seats and the JD(S) secured victory in two constituencies.

Out of nine seats won by the Congress, five are in Kalyana Karnataka region. Interestingly, in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, during Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s first term, the Congress won nine seats while the BJP won 17 and JD(S) two seats.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had won just one seat out of the total 28 in Karnataka. The BJP had swept the 2019 elections bagging 25 seats while an independent backed by the party also won. The JD(S), then in alliance with the Congress, won one seat.

The 2024 Lok Sabha election results once again proved that Karnataka voters cast their votes differently in Assembly and parliamentary elections. The BJP, which was decimated in the Assembly elections in May 2023, won 17 Lok Sabha seats just one year later.

Regionwise break up
The BJP captured all four seats in Bengaluru and the coastal region of Karnataka. The dominant Vokkaliga community in the Old Mysore region backed the Congress in the 2023 Assembly elections, but seems to have supported the BJP and JD(S) in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won only Hassan and Chamarajanagar (reserved) Lok seats.

The biggest surprise is the defeat of D.K. Suresh, brother of KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, in Bengaluru Rural constituency. Eminent cardiologist and former PM H.D. Deve Gowda’s son-in-law Dr. C.N. Manjunath of BJP defeated D.K. Suresh by a margin of over one lakh votes.

The defeat of the Congress in the Old Mysore region is considered as a major setback to Mr. Shivakumar who has been trying to become the leader of the Vokkaliga community.

Fate of former CMs
All three former chief ministers – H.D. Kumaraswamy of JD(S) in Mandya constituency, Basavaraj Bommai of BJP in Haveri segment and Jagadish Shettar of BJP in Belagavi constituency — won.

Prajwal Revanna, who has been facing multiple sexual abuse cases in Hassan district, lost to Congress candidate Shreyas Patel. Mr Revanna has already been suspended by the JD(S).

JD(S), a regional outfit, joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September 2023 and contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP, nominating candidates three constituencies. The party won two seats — Mandya and Kolar.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani defeated Umesh Jadhav of the BJP in Gulbarga constituency.