Athani Election Result 2023: Athani is one of the 224 constituencies in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. It falls under Belgaum district and it is one of the eight Assembly seats under Chikkodi Lok Sabha constituency. The seat was represented by BJP leader Mahesh Iranagoud Kumathalli in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. He won the seat in the 2019 by-election after switching parties to the BJP after winning the seat in 2018 on a Congress ticket.
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2023: FULL COVERAGE
Congress' Laxman Savadi had the last laugh
This year, the main contest was between Congress candidate and former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi and incumbent MLA and BJP candidate Mahesh Kumathalli. Savadi had resigned from the BJP after being denied a ticket to contest the Assembly Elections 2023. Aam Admi Party fielded Sampath Kumar Shetti, while JD(S) decided to go with Shashikant Padasalagi.
Major candidates in the fray:
- Laxman Savadi - Congress
- Mahesh Kumathalli - BJP
- Sampath Kumar Shetti - AAP
- Shashikant Padasalagi - JD(S)
Congress candidate Laxman Savadi was declared the winner from this seat by a huge margin of 76,122 votes. He garnered a total of 1,31,404 votes whereas his opponent BJP's Kumathalli could manage only 55,282 votes.
As of 2019 General Election, the total number of voters in the Athani Assembly is 21,7974. According to the 2011 Census, SC voters at the Athani assembly are approximately 34,353 which is around 15.76%. Meanwhile, ST voters are approximately 5,449 which is around 2.5%. Muslim voters at the Athani assembly are approximately 27,029 which is around 12.4% as per voter list analysis.
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2018 Assembly Elections
In the 2018 Assembly elections, Mahesh Kumathalli won the seat on a Congress ticket. However, he switched the party a year after and joined the BJP in 2019. A by-poll was initiated and Kumatalli won it with a margin of 39,989 votes. He defeated Congress leader Gajanan Bhalachandra Mangasuli who received 59,214 votes, while Kumathalli garnered over 99,000 votes in the by-poll.
Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023
It should be mentioned here that the state witnessed a single phase of voting on May 10, whereas, results were declared on May 13. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that more than 9.17 lakh first-time voters participated in the elections in Karnataka.
